Rita Beale has served as the State Coordinator for Child Evangelism Fellowship of Virginia, a non-profit organization working with churches to engage in religious outreach to elementary school-aged children, since November 2017. In this role, she oversees the organization’s staff, its Christian Youth in Action summer camp, and handles its day to day operations. She also works with its State Board to develop strategic initiatives. 

Prior to working with CEF, Rita served as an adjunct professor with Truett McConnell University, where she both taught and developed juvenile justice courses. Additionally, she served as Associate Dean for Internal Affairs at Liberty University School of Law; Deputy Attorney General over the Health, Education and Social Services Division of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office; System Counsel to the Virginia Community College System; General Counsel to Old Dominion University; and as an Assistant Attorney General for Norfolk State University and other state educational institutions. During her 16-year tenure with the Office of the Attorney General, she also worked for the Local Government Section and the Health and Mental Health Section. In the mid-1990s, she served as Associate Staff Counsel, Education Coordinator and finally as Legal Coordinator with The Rutherford Institute, then a religious civil liberties organization. Before becoming an attorney, she was an AT&T Account Executive and held operational positions with the First National Bank of Atlanta (now Wells Fargo). 

Rita has received resolutions of appreciation from former Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, the Board of Governors for Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University, and the Dana B. Hamel Award for Excellence in Service from the State Board for Community Colleges. She has two publications: “Religion in the Public Workplace,” in THE NACUA HANDBOOK FOR LAWYERS NEW TO HIGHER EDUCATION (3rd ed. 2009); and “The Expanding Government Speech Doctrine in U.S. Jurisprudence and Its Implications for Internet Privacy and Private Speech,” in the Forum on Public Policy, Vol. 2009, no. 2. She also appeared as second chair before the U.S. Supreme Court in AETN v. Forbes, a free speech case. 

Rita earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University School of Law. 

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