Reflections from a year of dialogue at DePaul

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​​​ DePa​ul established the Dialogue Collaborative last summer to foster a shared vocabulary and set of dialogic practices across the university. Hundreds of DePaul faculty, staff and students participated in events hosted or supported by the collaborative that grappled with immigration, the conflict in the Middle East, mindfulness, mental health and more. Nearly 60 faculty and staff completed the Dialogue in Action workshops to learn the principles of facilitating dialogue.

The collaborative has worked hand-in-hand with existing programs to deepen our community’s engagement with practices of dialogue across campus. There is still work to be done, but as the academic year ends, members of the collaborative offer reflections on difficult conversations and transformative moments from the last year.

The Dialogue Collaborative is now accepting applications for the fall Dialogue in Action training, which will be Monday afternoons in the fall quarter. Applications are also open to fund events that promote dialogue. More information is on the Dialogue Collaborative’s website. 

Dustin Goltz, College of Communication, on a commitment to meaningful engagement and transformative conversations
Spring Open-Door Discussion: Meeting the Moment at DePaul

I facilitated a dialogue with five faculty members, who occupied a diverse spectrum of opinions. The care and conviction that fueled that exchange is exactly what I always believed higher education, and DePaul specifically, should be striving for. We discussed and processed complex issues and ideas-in-development in a space that was both critical and curious, both opinionated and empathetic. We saw a model for who we are and who we hope to be. That moment stood out to me as a hint, a seed, of what we can collectively build — a community committed to meaningful engagement and transformative conversations.

Elissa Foster, College of Communication, on the need for dialogue
Dialogue Collaborative Retreat​

At the Dialogue Collaborative Steering Committee retreat in December, we created a 10-year timeline of local, national and international events that prompted "a need for dialogue" going back 10 years. We realized there have been many events and circumstances that disrupted our peace, brought uncomfortable levels of uncertainty and change, and challenged our relationships with one another.

We concluded that dialogue is not necessarily going to change those circumstances. Instead, we can meet those circumstances differently, with a greater sense of solidarity and inclusiveness, by integrating dialogic principles and practices into our individual and institutional responses to them.

Melissa Ockerman, College of Education, on building unity amid uncertainty and division
Dialogue in Action Training

When I applied in the fall for the winter cohort, I didn’t know the complex geopolitical environment we would soon be encountering. Arriving at the first session and meeting my cohort from all across the DePaul community –faculty, staff, and administrators — felt like kismet. Throughout the training, we stretched beyond our comfort zones, explored new ways of expressing ourselves and listened to others, all grounded in our shared Vincentian values. This coming together--this sense of unity--turned out to be exactly what I needed in a time of uncertainty and division.

It reminded me of academia at its best – a place to challenge one's thinking and understanding, to make sense of a rapidly changing world, and to build a community in a thoughtful and compassionate manner. I finished the training not only better equipped as an educator, but more hopeful as a human being.

Georgianna Torres Reyes, Mission and Ministry, on storytelling to build connection and community
Bridgebuilding Fellowship

We designed the Bridgebuilding Fellowship to teach 40 of our student leaders to examine multiple perspectives and learn about themselves and others in the process. Students shared that inauthentic, aggressive and one-sided exchanges between people seemed to be the norm in person and online. They were looking for something different. They described the Bridgebuilding experience as life giving, restorative, and comfortable.

I was most excited by how students used Bridgebuilding techniques to navigate difficult situations in their homes, with partners and friend groups, and in their classrooms. Students emphasized that stories are important—the stories we tell are expressions of our values and what we hold most dear.

After the success of the initial year, we will offer the Bridgebuilding fellowship next year and continue to center deep listening and storytelling as a means of connection and community building.

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David Wellman, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, on visualizing a peaceful future together
Parents Circle – Families Forum

Many people in our community shared how moved they were to encounter a Palestinian and an Israeli who clearly loved each other. Underscoring the power of what Arab and Guy had to say was their description of their initial desire to kill as many people from the other’s group as possible in the wake of losing a family member to the conflict. Hearing them recount their journeys from that moment to committing to dialogue and reconciliation was extraordinarily powerful. Their time at DePaul was an unexpected opportunity for many in our community to hear for themselves the testimonies of people from the region who have chosen to work together to visualize a future many are unable to see on their own.

Craig Klugman, College of Science and Health, on creating comfortable silence
Wave 11222

After the Wave 11222 performance on grief and COVID, I led a diverse group of students and faculty in a discussion. People shared relationships lost from COVID whether they died or whether they were pushed apart by different beliefs around conspiracy theories. A faculty participant commented after that what meant most to her was how comfortable I, as a facilitator, was in allowing people to sit in silence—to consider what had just been said and allow space for reflection before someone else spoke. The silence did not feel awkward but rather permissive, allowing for deeper considerations and led to a more authentic conversation.

Matthew Girson, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, on tools for dialogue in the classroom
Classroom of Lived Civics and Social Contract Theory, and Art, Artists, and Contemporary Culture

This cross-listed class explores the roles and responsibilities of artists in societies built on freedoms of speech and expression. For class discussions, I often adapt a model I learned in Dialogue in Action, in which students situate themselves along a spectrum of “strongly agree” to “neutral” to “strongly disagree” in response to a provocative prompt. Recent prompts included: “Artists from marginalized communities are obligated to make work that explores the concerns of their particular marginalized group;” and “old school media and technologies (oil painting, carved stone or wood, etc.) are less valuable for expressing current cultural concerns than new technologies.”

After a few turns, students get more comfortable, and their contributions to the discussion are more nuanced and pertinent. The spectrum of opinions demonstrates that disagreement and divergent opinions are encouraged and necessary. They help us understand our own views better as well as others’ views.

Lexa Murphy, College of Communication, on engaging with curiosity and courage
Bridgebuilding Fellowship Celebration

At an intergenerational dialogue facilitated by students trained through the Bridge Builders program, we exchanged perspectives and stories—each shaped by our unique experiences and identities. The student facilitator was exceptional, and the conversation was both thoughtful and illuminating. As I looked around the room, I found myself thinking: Something truly meaningful is happening here.

We still have work to do. But now, we have a structure. We have a process. And perhaps most importantly, we have a DePaul community that is ready—ready to show up, speak out, and engage with courage and curiosity. ​

Find out more about the Dialogue Collaborative's work on its website​.