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Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues

Making a Difference Through Dialogue

Team Preparation

Team Composition

Presentation

The maximum team size will be six (6) members, with at least one administrative leader. When selecting participants, institutions should consider the following possibilities:

  1. Project leader(s) who will be responsible for coordinating design and implementation of the difficult dialogues program on your campus, potentially a specialist in faculty development.
  2. Faculty or staff member(s) with expertise in interpersonal and intercultural communication, mediation, conflict resolution, deliberative dialogues, and/or group dynamics.
  3. Faculty or staff member(s) with expertise in topical areas of diversity issues identified in the campus visit report.
  4. Faculty or staff member(s) with expertise in academic freedom, academic responsibility, intellectual pluralism, and freedom of expression, with emphasis on their applications to the college classroom.
  5. One faculty member (and possibly a graduate student) with expertise in theatre and an interest in establishing an Interactive Theatre (Theatre of the Oppressed) troupe on your campus.

Questions to be addressed in the pre-Institute needs assessment:

  1. Team characteristics:

    What was your rationale for choosing the particular members of your campus team? What roles do you envision each member playing in your campus efforts? In what way will your team structure affect campus efforts after the Institute?

  2. Need:

    What educational changes do you envision within and among the participating departments on your campus and what motivated a desire for action? What work already has been accomplished, and by whom? Have assessment results prompted the review or are you just beginning to create an assessment plan for Difficult Dialogues? What resource or political issues are at play in the process? Has a unified vision or plan emerged?

  3. Goals:

    What high-priority tasks for strengthening and/or assessing student learning do you expect your team to work on during the Institute? These should be tasks that, if advanced substantially during the Institute, would lead your team and campus to judge your efforts and success.

  4. Contributions:

    What do you believe your team can contribute to the Institute?