Our Work
Dialogues Curriculum
We offer a 3-credit undergraduate course, INVS 2989: "Dialogue Across Difference," which is grounded in intergroup dialogue methodologies. It provides students the opportunity to learn what dialogue entails, practice equity-minded dialogue, and be trained as dialogue facilitators. Two sections are offered each year. This class always has a waiting list.
Dialogue as a Pedagogy
We offer workshops on dialogue as a pedagogy, centered on helping instructors activate and validate students’ prior knowledge and experience within classes across the curriculum. For graduate student instructors, we offer a micro-credential program, in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning. For faculty, we provide a Faculty Fellowship and we are developing a community of practice for faculty interested in dialogue as a pedagogy.
Collaborative Change Dialogues for Campus Units
We design, implement, and assess collaborative change programming in partnership with requesting campus units, using a tailored curriculum to promote communication across differences, develop critical consciousness, and drive collective action. Each program is uniquely co-designed to meet the specific needs of the unit, with two primary objectives:
- Dialogue Facilitation Skill Development: Equip program participants with the necessary skills to facilitate dialogues that foster inclusion, build connections across differences, and advance equity.
- Sustainable equity and inclusion Capacity Building: Support units in expanding their capacity to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion action/goals in meaningful and sustainable ways.
Current program partnerships include our sustained collaboration with CU’s Finance and Business Strategy (FBS) through the ‘FBS Dialogues Program,’ a leading partner in our collaborative change work and in building unit and university capacity for fostering equity and inclusion through dialogue. Since the fall 2023, we have partnered with the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to co-create the OIT Dialogue Program, paving the way for meaningful dialogues and collaborative change work between OIT staff and student employees.
Research and Development
We conduct assessment on our practices and contribute to the field of dialogue through conference presentations, publications, grant-funded research, and networking with colleagues at CU and around the country.