Faculty Assistant and Program Coordinator

Responsibilities

• Course Support & Team Coordination
• Provide operational support to Professor Ganz and a dynamic team of 6-12 teaching fellows, ensuring seamless delivery of courses in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.
• Manage day-to-day course needs, including editing and printing materials, updating course websites, scheduling office hours, obtaining copyright permissions, and entering grades.
• Coordinate course technology needs, ensuring the teaching team has reliable tools and technical support.
• Contribute to a strong and supportive team culture by reliably fulfilling individual responsibilities, proactively assisting colleagues when needed, and contributing to the effective functioning of the broader teaching and programmatic work.
• Scheduling & Follow-Up
• Manage Professor Ganz's complex calendar across teaching, PDP work, coaching, and research.
• Schedule meetings with students, colleagues, team members, and external partners, ensuring all relevant background materials are shared in advance.
• Maintain clear communication with the PDP team regarding Professor Ganz's availability, priorities, and upcoming commitments to support effective planning and coordination.
• Debrief with Professor Ganz after meetings to clarify next steps and follow-up actions.
• Execute timely and reliable follow-up after meetings, including sharing materials, scheduling subsequent meetings, tracking action items, and making introductions as needed.
• Communications & Relational Stewardship
• Manage incoming emails with responsiveness and efficiency.
• Draft, respond to, and organize correspondence on behalf of Professor Ganz with students, colleagues, team members, and external partners.
• Support clear, consistent communication between Professor Ganz, the PDP team, and collaborators, including LCN staff and broader network members.
• Track key relational connections and ensure timely follow-up on conversations, meetings, and requests.
• Task Management
• Collaborate with Professor Ganz and the PDP team to track ongoing tasks, priorities, and project deadlines.
• Maintain and manage Professor Ganz's to-do lists, including capturing, clarifying, and translating action items from meetings, conversations, and written communications into clear next steps.
• Stay closely attuned to shifting priorities and proactively identify potential bottlenecks before they arise.
• Travel Coordination & Expense Reimbursement
• Arrange travel logistics, including transportation, lodging, and itineraries.
• Coordinate with partner organizations and host institutions when travel is sponsored or externally arranged.
• Process and track travel-related expense reimbursements in accordance with applicable policies and procedures.
• Database & Website Management
• Maintain PDP's contact data

Additional Information

Professor Marshall Ganz is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Director of the Practicing Democracy Project (PDP) at the Center for Public Leadership. His teaching and research focus on leadership, narrative, organizing, and civic engagement, with an emphasis on how people build collective power to create change. The Practicing Democracy Project supports practitioners and students to develop the skills, relationships, and capacities needed for democratic renewal. It focuses on equipping individuals and organizations to engage in the work of organizing, building power, and fostering democratic practices. Through teaching, research, and practitioner partnerships, PDP explores how democracy is not only a system of governance, but lived, daily practice. Professor Ganz teaches three courses: Organizing: People, Power, Change ; Public Narrative ; and Being Human . His courses, which are taught both in person and online, draw hundreds of students and practitioners from around the world and are grounded in a practice-based approach to leadership development. His work frequently involves collaboration with organizers, students, academics, and institutions globally. In addition to his role at Harvard, Professor Ganz is the founder and senior advisor of the Leading Change Network (LCN)-a global community of organizers, educators, and change-makers who use the organizing frameworks and leadership practices developed through his work. Position Summary The Faculty Assistant & Program Coordinator will play a central role in supporting Professor Ganz and the Practicing Democracy Project, providing high-level administrative, logistical, and relational support. This is a dynamic and people-centered role that enables the smooth functioning of a fast-paced, collaborative, and impact-driven body of work. The ideal candidate is proactive, highly organized, detail-oriented, and relationally skilled. They have the ability to manage complex scheduling, ensure follow-through across multiple streams of work, and steward relationships with care and joy. They are curious about our work, committed to learning, and invested in their own growth and development.

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