Amanda Shaffer is a professional coach and consultant with extensive experience supporting both institutions and individuals to initiate, transform, and grow.

In addition to coaching leaders and academic faculty across the country, she has extensive experience designing professional workshops, career advancement initiatives, and diversity education programs for a range of organizations and institutions.

She has written multiple diversity focused guidebooks, toolkits, and videos for national associations and academic institutions.

She is proud of her 20-year involvement with NSF ADVANCE program for developing some of her skills and thinking, and is pleased that the outcomes of her NSF funded career program for women in STEM, To Tenure and Beyond (Forward to Professorship, Elsevier, 2015) is still being used as a model today.

A Gestalt Professional Certified Coach (GPCC) who is ACC-certified through the International Coach Federation, Shaffer earned both a bachelors and a master’s degree in Philosophy from Cleveland State University. She has additional training in Woman in Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Appreciative Inquiry, Negotiation and Conflict Management, and Mindful Facilitation. 

Amanda was also the founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Red Hen Productions Feminist Theatre (Cleveland, 1995-2005), a founding member of the Ohio Diversity Officers Collaborative (2008), and served on the National HERC Advisory Board from 2014 to 2018.

Whether she is facilitating professional development programs, coaching leaders, or helping people advance in their careers, Amanda’s work is defined by her dedication to equity, inclusion, and social progress. 

In her free time she enjoys visiting museums, volunteering, and spending time with family and friends visiting the Washington DC area.

Publications

To Tenure and Beyond: Building an Intentional Career in STEM (chapter), Shaffer, Amanda & Friemark, S., 2015. In Mavriplis, C. & Heller, S. (Eds), Forward to Professorship: Academic Leadership Development in Science and Engineering. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier

I was pleased to have my essay “BUSING: A WHITE GIRL’S TALE” printed in the latest Rust Belt Anthology. Books may be purchased on the Belt website. I was also featured in the CNN online story “When you’re the only white person in the room” by John Blake.  

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