Jim is the Director of RFI's National Center for Religious Freedom Education. As a career educator, Jim has held a variety of faculty and administrative positions at several public and private colleges and universities. His positions of service include Professor, College Dean, and Chief Academic Officer. At one of these institutions, Clemson University, he also served as the Director of Global Education Initiatives, Founding Director of Clemson’s Global Leadership Institute for Youth, and key contributor to the Global Learning Institute for Faculty where he assisted with the internationalization of the university curriculum.

Jim is a Fulbright recipient whose interest in international exchange and global partnerships has taken him to six continents and nearly sixty countries to lecture at universities, engage in ethnographic research, train teachers, contribute to humanitarian efforts, and advise government officials on educational issues. As a recognized specialist in global learning, curriculum development, and innovative program design, he has served on numerous boards and task forces in the United States and Europe, and is a frequent speaker at academic conferences, having delivered keynote addresses and professional development presentations at more than 70 educational conferences in the U.S. and around the world.