Institute for Transformative Dialogue

The Institute for Transformative Dialogue works to cultivate a culture of dialogue, inclusion, and equity across campus and the world. Our approach is grounded in intergroup dialogue, an empirically-supported critical pedagogy that fosters critical understanding, communication, and collaborative action across social group inequities.

Student leaders as peer educators

Student leaders working with the Institute collaborate with faculty and staff to facilitate critical dialogues about oppression, privilege, and justice inside and outside the classroom. We support intergroup dialogue courses offered to all CMU students through the Intergroup Relations and Justice program. Students seeking applied leadership learning opportunities can be dialogue facilitators in intergroup dialogues across race, gender, and other dimensions of inequity.

Are you a student interested in training and internship opportunities as an intergroup dialogue facilitator? Learn more about how transferable skills in intergroup dialogue facilitation can help you lead in your career and community, complementing any major at CMU!

BECOME AN INTERGROUP DIALOGUE FACILITATOR

Faculty and staff collaboration

Faculty and staff working with the Institute are experts in diverse fields who have a commitment to critical education and a passion for collaborative teaching and mentoring. The Institute team and affiliated faculty collaborate with student leaders to:

  • Provide instructional support for intergroup dialogue courses, including support in the training, development, and mentorship of student peer educators;
  • Provide ongoing professional development support for inclusive teaching and leadership development for faculty, staff, and students;
  • Support the development of inclusive curriculum and intergroup dialogue methods across the university, including training in intergroup dialogue pedagogy for faculty and staff;
  • Lead research and scholarly inquiry to advance knowledge in fields such as: intergroup dialogue, critical education, critical pedagogy, social justice education, and justice, inclusion and equity;
  • Maintain and program spaces for intergroup dialogue learning, including collaboration space for peer educators, dialogue classrooms, and community space for students, faculty, and staff committed to inclusion, equity, and justice;
  • Cultivate and support experiential learning opportunities for students to apply and practice skills in dialogue and inclusive practices across co-curricular and external spaces;
  • Cultivate and support experiential learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and external partners to apply and practice skills in dialogue and inclusive practices.

    The Institute for Transformative Dialogue works to cultivate a culture of dialogue, inclusion, and equity across campus and the world. Our approach is grounded in intergroup dialogue, an empirically-supported critical pedagogy that fosters critical understanding, communication, and collaborative action across social group inequities.

    We are critical educators who work to transform relationships toward justice by:

    ●     fostering co-creative learning environments full of meaningful engagement and collaboration;

    ●     uncovering how power from social systems shapes our lives and relationships;

    ●     using counterstories to critically examine the ways dominant narratives and socialization shape identity and lived experience;

    ●     developing capacities to listen and share perspectives with honesty, openness, and empathy;

    ●     bridging conflicts to open up possibilities for mutual care and collective action.

    Intergroup dialogue (IGD) is a critical learning process for developing understanding, communication, collaboration across differences. Learners engage in structured, facilitated conversations across social group differences (racial, gender, class, religious, and others) with an emphasis on active listening and critical reflection. For both facilitators and participants, intergroup dialogue builds essential competencies for working in diverse teams, fostering a climate of inclusion, and engaging as an active citizen in a global society.

    History of the Institute

    YearsActivities
    2009Academic Senate responds to racial conflict on campus with recommendations for improving the climate for racial inclusion and equity. A priority recommendation, under the leadership of Associate Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Denise Green, is “to develop a CMU intergroup dialogue program model with the aim of increasing cultural competency among CMU students and facilitating their ability to communicate cross-culturally and across social identity groups e.g. race and gender.” (Priority II Proposal)
    2009-2010First courses offered in intergroup dialogue, including dialogue facilitation and dialogues on race and racism. Dr. Ulana Klymyshyn (Director of Diversity Education, faculty in Anthropology) and Dr. Shelly Hinck (faculty in Communication) develop and teach the first offerings.
    2012-2013College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences develops and offers a certificate in Cultural Competency, continuing regular offerings of racism dialogues and facilitation training. MAC Scholar protocol revised to include the dialogue course as a core requirement. Office of LGBTQ Services organizes Social Justice Dialogue lunch hours for staff and faculty.
    2013-2015Student interest in intergroup dialogue courses grows, and more faculty join the intergroup dialogue teaching team.
    2015-2017National protests of campus racism prompt CMU Pres. Ross to convene an Equity and Inclusion Task Force to propose comprehensive plans for campus equity. A priority recommendation of the task force is to embed intergroup dialogue across the student experience by creating a sustainable co-curricular partnership across academic and student affairs programs. 
    2017-2019Intergroup dialogue faculty and staff launch an initiative to support student affairs and services in implementing intergroup dialogue approaches across the student experience. Initiative offers training sequences for professional and parapro staff in Residence Life, IMPACT, and Leadership Safari. 
    2019-2020The Institute for Transformative Dialogue is founded. Co-directed by Shannon Jolliff-Dettore (Student Affairs, LGBTQ Services) and Andy Blom (CLASS, Philosophy), the Institute begins as a cross-unit partnership to “foster excellence in intergroup dialogue learning through curricula, programs, and trainings designed to nurture capacities for engaging authentically across difference and appreciating the lived experiences of others.” New intergroup dialogue faculty, jared halter, and graduate assistants join the Institute team.
    2020-2021Institute launches Inclusion Partners program to develop student affairs professionals as leaders in inclusion practices within and across their offices. New intergroup dialogue course on gender identities developed, taught by Kelly Murphy (Religion, Women and Gender Studies).
    2021-2022Institute faculty propose an academic minor in Intergroup Relations and Justice. The minor curriculum provides an academic pathway for student leaders trained as peer facilitators of intergroup dialogue, as well as students seeking proficiency in equity and justice work in their careers and communities. The Institute offers Inclusion Partners (new cohort) and a faculty learning community for dialogic and inclusive teaching.
    2022-2023Academic minor in Intergroup Relations and Justice begins accepting students. CLASS establishes an associate director position in the Institute, appointing dr. halter. The Institute develops and offers a comprehensive facilitator training program for student staff in Impact, Safari, Alternative Breaks, and Residence Life. CLASS opens space in Anspach Hall for the Institute for Transformative Dialogue.
    2023-2024The Institute moves under the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and continues its mission of working to cultivate a culture of dialogue, inclusion, and equity across campus and the world.

     

    Meet the staff

      Andy Blom
      Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Anthropology and Religion

      Affiliate Faculty, Women and Gender Studies

      Email:blom1a@cmich.edu

      jared halter
      Lecturer II in Intergroup Relations and Justice, Affiliate faculty in Women and Gender Studies

      Email: halte1j@cmich.edu

      McKenzie Reed
      Graduate Assistant for the Institute of Transformative Dialogue

      Every semester, CMU students serve in pairs as co-facilitators for intergroup dialogues among their peers. The learning that occurs through dialogue is possible because of the work of this group of talented, wise and dedicated students.

      Carlin Borsheim-Black
      Professor in English Language and Literature

      Alància Crossley
      Residence Hall Director

      Sara Moslener
      Lecturer in Religion, Affiliate faculty in Women and Gender Studies

      Kelly Murphy
      Professor in Religion, Affiliate faculty in Women and Gender Studies