Projects / University of Missouri–Columbia,
From Divisiveness to Discourse: Bridging Rival Realities in Public Higher Education
PI: Roger Worthington, Associate Professor, Education, School and Counseling Psychology, College of Education.
The MU Difficult Dialogues program is designed to stimulate rigorous intellectual inquiry, and to empower students to express opposing views respectfully and in the spirit of open-mindedness. Program activities will provide an environment in which differing views are defended, heard, and considered by those who hold conflicting ideas and values across cultures.
Faculty development activities begin with 4 half-day workshops in the fall that include training in deliberative dialogue, conflict resolution, and religious literacy. Interactive theatre techniques will provide opportunities for practice and rehearsal for dealing with difficult dialogues. Faculty Fellows will apply their learning in their regular undergraduate courses taught in the winter/spring. Additional faculty development support will be provided through 2 additional workshops in the winter.
Each semester during the Ford Foundation funding period, we will hold one campus-wide interactive theatre performance and one public forum. Chancellor Brady Deaton will sponsor the campus-wide public forums through the Chancellor's Global Issues Forums. The Global Issues Forums will address controversial topics to coincide with classroom activities.
An interdisciplinary group will implement a program that draws on specific strengths represented at MU: the top-ranked Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution (CSDR); the Pew-sponsored Center for Religion, the Professions, and the Public; faculty leadership in the Carnegie/American Association of Higher Education cluster on the use of interactive theater to address multicultural issues; the nationally recognized MU Freshman Interest Group (FIG) Living and Learning Communities; and a major commitment to multiculturalism facilitated by the Chancellor's Strategic Plan, Diversity Initiative and Diversity Council.
See the project's site here.