Terry Amsler is the Program Director Emeritus of the Institute for Local Government’s Public Engagement Program, having served as the initiating program director beginning in 2005 and until his move to Bloomington, Indiana in late 2013. He then served in a part-time program manager role with the Institute until his retirement in April 2015. Terry is presently an Adjunct Instructor with Indiana University’s O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and is teaching a Fall 2015 class on public engagement.

Terry holds a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York/College at New Paltz and a M.P.A. from the University of San Francisco. Prior to joining the Institute for Local Government, Terry was a Program Officer and then Program Director for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Conflict Resolution funding area. Prior to work with Hewlett, he served as the executive director of the Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission and of San Francisco’s Community Board Program, and also as the Director of U.S. Initiatives with Partners for Democratic Change.

Terry continues to serve in executive and advisory committee roles with the Institute for Local Government, the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, the National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education, and others. He was recognized for his work in the public engagement field with the “Hero Award” from the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation in 2014.