Nationwide Civics Organization Appoints Key Staff as Part of Expansion Strategy

"These highly qualified civic-minded professionals will serve in key leadership positions that will enable us to reach more people than ever," said Riano. "As we shift our efforts to focus on reaching a larger and more diverse audience, we are assembling a team whose experience and commitment will help us reach these goals while remaining true to our fundamental values. Together, they will help us bring a civic and constitutional education to all from cradle through career."

Dr. Phillips will direct all programming and curricula at the Center, including the signature We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Project Citizen programs, assuming this responsibility from Robert S. Leming, national director of the We the People Programs, who is retiring this summer. Phillips will join the Center on April 1 from the District of Columbia Public Schools, where she served as director of academic innovations. A former classroom teacher, Phillips has been a district coordinator and mentor for the Center for more than 20 years, bringing her breadth and depth of experience working with diverse populations of students and teachers. She holds a doctorate in education policy and leadership and curriculum theory and development from the University of Maryland. Her research and publications have centered around the impact of We the People on student civic dispositions.

Tolas will serve as the Lillian B. and Martin J. Jarvis Director of Development, a new position created by a generous donation from philanthropist Devra Jarvis, PhD, who presented the gift to the Center in memory of her parents, Lillian B. and Martin J. Jarvis. The position will allow the Center to ensure the continued long-term strength of the national nonprofit organization. Tolas, an experienced fundraiser, will join the Center on March 1 from Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey, where she secured the most funds raised in the organization's history.

The Center for Civic Education has long been recognized as a leader in providing civic education to K–12 students and adults, with its research-based curriculum reaching more than 42 million students and 440,000 educators in the United States and in more than 80 countries since 1965.

SOURCE The Center for Civic Education