Recruiting Faculty/Staff and Students to participate in the
SUSTAINED DIALOGUE CAMPUS NETWORK!
Students: Apply to be a SDCN Participant or Moderator
Faculty/Staff: Apply to be a SDCN Advisor
Cuyahoga Community College faculty/staff/administrators and students have the unique opportunity to be the first community college in the United States to implement Sustained Dialogue. Representatives from West, Westshore, East and Metro Campuses including Student Activities, Student Affairs, Deans, and representatives from Clubs at West have been working together with Global Issues Resource Center and the Office of Diversity to develop this initiative at Tri-C.
The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network supports a network of 14 campuses to use Sustained Dialogue as a tool for creating safe spaces on college campuses to address divisive issues. At the intersection of civic engagement, leadership development, and diversity/inclusion/social justice, the goal is to transform relationships to create change on campus and to equip the next generation of leaders with tools to apply in their workplaces and communities. SD is used as a tool to increase civic competencies for individual students, as a complement to retention and achievement initiatives, and to provide participants with skills beneficial for any occupation.
Semester Long Process Timeline
- First 4 weeks students explore various topics of identity including: Ageism, Racism, Ableism, Heterosexism, etc.
- After week 5, students select a topic to explore more in depth and invite speakers to learn more.
- Final third of the semester, student's problem solve around this topic and develop plans to address at the individual level, relational/group level, and organizational/college-wide level.
Skills gained from participation in Sustained Dialogue
Achieving consensus, ability to take different perspectives, active listening, appreciating diversity and understanding different experiences, strategic planning
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
There are several opportunities for student participation. These include serving as a student moderator or a participant.
Student Moderators: We have filled the moderator positions for East, West and Metro campus for fall semester 2013. We will be recruiting students at all 4 campuses including Westshore who reflect the different voices in the community as moderators, starting in December 2013 for spring term 2014. During the semester, in weekly sessions of 1 hour each, moderators will co-facilitate a group of 8-12 students to engage critical issues around the big 8 of social identity including racism, ableism, socioeconomics, ethnicity, sex and gender, sexual orientation, religion, or age depending on what topics the group sees as affecting your campus most. The group will then propose college and campus-wide methods of addressing related conflicts.
Skills Training Moderators will receive:
- Conflict Management Skills Training (15 hours or 2-days): understanding the nature of conflict, managing emotions, de-escalating conflict, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, conflict styles, etc.
- Sustained Dialogue Moderator Training (15 hours or 2-days): Facilitated by SDCN Executive Director and Program Director, students receive training on the SDCN model, facilitation skills, 8 dimensions of socil identity, etc.
- Basic Mediation Training - Optional (20 hours or 2.5 days): Facilitated by Kent State University Mediation Trainer, students learn skills to mediate student-student conflict
Student Participants: We are currently recruiting participants on each campus for fall semester 2013. We will be recruiting on all 4 campuses including Westshore for participants for spring 2014 semester, starting in December 2013. The commitment includes participating in dialogue groups each week for approximately one and a half hours per week. These students may be nominated by faculty or current student leaders. We will recruit students representing the diversity on each of the four main campuses (Metro, East, West, and Westshore) to be participants. A link to an application will be posted. Please check back frequently.
For a glossary of terms used in Sustained Dialogue, please download the document HERE.
Questions? Please contact Tyler Olson, Global Issues Resource Center at 216-987-2582 or by email: Tyler.Olson@tri-c.edu.