Environmental Map
Connecting existing dialogue work and practitioners on and off campus
Originally compiled in 2017, the Initiative on Campus Dialogues Environmental Map provides an overview of current dialogue resources and initiatives in the broader UConn community.
Our goal is to connect existing dialogue work and practitioners on and off campus with a commitment to promoting dialogue work. Below you will find a list of contributions to the Map, including a list of their main goals, activities, and a contact person.
- At UConn
- At Regional Campuses
- Beyond UConn
From our contributions over the AY16-17, we've found that our community's core goals are education, community out-reach, and advocacy.
We've also identified the following as essential aspects of dialogue work: the ability to take another's perspective, awareness of your own biases, and our ability to empathize. These were closely followed by an appreciation for diversity, knowledge of facts and content for a particular subject, and respect for other participants in dialogue.
This page is updated with new contributors when we get them, so check back often!
Join the Map!
At UConn Storrs
| Initiative on Campus Dialogues (ICD) | Facilitation Training, Dialogue ICD is a working group organized as part of the UConn Humanities Institute's Humility & Conviction in Public Life project. ICD aims to plan and promote productive dialogue over divisive issues in order to create sustainable and infrastructural change, at the university and local level. |
| El Instituto | El Instituto is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary program that advances the research and undergraduate and graduate teaching of Latina/o, Caribbean, Puerto Rican, and Latin American Studies. El Instituto's student, staff, and faculty work in collaboration with Latinx and Latin American communities on campus, in the state, and beyond to foster mutually beneficial spaces of learning and action. Mark Overmeyer-Velazquez Director/Professor |
| Community Outreach | Inspired by UConn's commitment to developing active global citizens Community Outreach's mission is to engage students in meaningful service activities that enrich their learning and enhance the quality of life for others in our local, national and international communities, particularly through dialogue initiatives and collaboration. Sara Cook Program Coordinator |
| School of Social Work | Education, Professional Training, Community Organization, Advocacy The School of Social Work is involve in a growing number of interdisciplinary collaborations within the University, including with the School of Law, UConn Health, and the human rights programs. We also have an extensive collaboration network with public and private human service agencies. Our graduates play major roles in planning, administering, and providing social and mental health services in Connecticut, the region, and beyond. Kathy Libal Faculty Member |
| Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning | Education, Professional Training CETL is dedicated to the support and advancement of best practices in teaching and learning at the University of Connecticut. Their teaching talk on "Conducting Classroom Discussions" is one of a series of informal discussions aimed at sharing teaching concerns and discussing techniques and strategies. Laura Wolfley Teaching Development Specialist |
| Educational Leadership: Husky Sport | Community Outreach, Education, Professional Training, Health Provision Using the power of sport, Husky Sport will collaborate with community and campus partners to support youth and college student development through shared teaching, learning, and practice committed to equity. Jennie McGarry Department Head, Professor, Executive Director |
| Small Talks UConn | Community Outreach, Common Grounding Small Talks-UConn works in partnership with the Office of Community Outreach to plan and host structured dialogues around divisive issues affecting UConn and the larger community. "Small Talks" aim to strengthen our capacities to know each other and ourselves through the practice of encountering dialogue. Dana Miranda Public Humanities Graduate Assistant |
| Human Rights Institute | Education, Professional Training, Alumni and Community Relations HRI is a leading innovator in research and teaching that critically engages contemporary dynamics and discourses on the theory and practice of human rights throughout the world. Kathy Libal Director |
| Humanities Action Lab | HAL is part of a national effort coordinated at The New School that engages universities throughout the country in particular themes (incarceration, immigration). They do three year projects that include collaborating with public groups and public displays outside the academy. Aimee Loiselle Initiative on Campus Dialogue and History Department |
| Office of Public Engagement | Community Outreach, Education, Facilitator Training, Community Organization, Advocacy Our mission is to assist in the development of engaged citizens through coordination, advocacy and capacity building through engagement activities. Some examples include civic engagement, service learning, engaged scholarship, university assisted community schools, and strategic partnerships with communities. Christine Lowe Project Specialist |
| UConn Science Communication | Education, Professional Training UConn Science Communication is an NSF-funded interdisciplinary research and training group devoted to the development of effective communication between STEM practitioners and the public. Margaret Rubega Partner |
| Assessing Intercultural Competence & Citizenship | Education Assessing Intercultural Competence is done through interdisciplinary and Dialogue-based Projects between faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students at UConn and with teachers, administrators, and students in public and private schools. The aim is to develop an operationalized theory on intellectual humility and intercultural citizenship in education. Manuela Wagner Partner Fabiana Cardetti Partner |
| History Graduate Student Association | "Oral History: Practice and Possibilities" A panel to promote brining more people into the archive and engage historians with such outreach to sources outside formal institutions. Aimee Loiselle Member of HiGSA |
At Regional Campuses
| Avery Point Global Café | "Civic Responsibility, Discourse, and Action" The Avery Point Global Café is a faculty-driven, student-focused interdisciplinary learning community engaged in critical dialogues on topics related to local environments and global citizenship since 2009. Nancy Parent Program Coordinator Laurie Wolfley Founding Member Christine Green Founding Member |
| Biol1102: Foundations of Biology | Education In the course students are required to report on recent news. It includes case studies and discussions on topics including race not supported by biology, climate change, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, among others. The course has included in the past a service learning component dealing with environmental issues. Christine Green Instructor |
| Avery Point EcoHusky Club | Community Outreach, Education, Advocacy We are focused on improving the environment and our goal is to enhance sustainability on the Avery Point campus and surrounding community through our actions by gathering information and educating the campus community on a wide range of environmental issues. This includes moderating deliberative dialogues after the screening of movies. Christine Green Faculty Advisor |
Beyond UConn
| Encounters | Encounters in co-sponsorship with the Hartford Public Library and the Wadsworth Atheneum is a series of structured-dialogues dedicated to fostering unexpected conversations in the greater Hartford community. The Spring 2017 series was focused on the fundamental documents that define U.S. democracy. Dana Miranda Public Humanities Graduate Assistant |
| Sheff Movement Coalition | Community Outreach, Education, Conflict Resolution, Community Organization, Advocacy Sheff Movement Design Challenge is an event meant to promote meaningful public discourse and engagement that will ultimately strengthen Greater Hartford's ongoing efforts to address racial and socioeconomic isolation and related inequities. Patricia O'Rourke Volunteer |
| Narrative 4 | Community Outreach, Conflict Resolution, Advocacy, Counseling and Mental Health Services Narrative 4 builds on a community of empathic global citizens who improve the world trhough the exchange of personal narratives. Our vision to achieve a sense of fearless hope through radical empathy is ambitious, progressive, and unique. Our core methodology, the story exchange, helps people tell tehir stories in a new and powerful way while allowing them to engage more profoundly with the world. |
| National Council for School Diversity | National Council for School Diversity had a strategic meeting at the Harvard Graduate School of Education around school diversity. This included Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools. Patricia O'Rourke Volunteer |