Strengthening Dialogue Across Higher Education: Takeaways from NCDD’s Higher Education Dialogue Summit

The inaugural Higher Education Dialogue Summit from the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation took place this past Friday, September 5, 2025. The virtual gathering highlighted cutting-edge approaches to inspiring dialogue in classrooms and across campuses, convening dozens of students, faculty, and staff from across the country. From integrating dialogue and deliberation best practices into pedagogy, to the role of power and language in fostering belonging, to breaking through university silos to foster interdisciplinary learning centered on civic skills, each breakout session combined years of field-tested insights with newly piloted teaching and learning innovations. Read more in the blog post below.

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​The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation's inaugural Higher Education Dialogue Summit brought together a remarkable collection of students, educators, researchers, and practitioners deeply involved or interested in promoting civil discourse on college campuses. The summit’s interactive presentations offered real-world examples of dialogue and deliberation in action on campuses, practical strategies for fostering civil discourse that attendees could apply in their own institutional or community context, and opportunities to connect and learn from peers across institutions.

Canvas of Conversation: Art, Conflict, and Common Ground

​Janett Cordoves and Rachel Piontak from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars are breaking new ground by exploring how creative expression can transform campus dialogue. Their workshop investigated how art can invite dialogue instead of deepening divides, the impact of negative emotions when art provokes strong reactions, and how institutions can leverage the arts to transform conflict and foster engagement. Combining the novel “artful dialogue” framework with tangible case studies, this session inspired new ideas for using art as a catalyst for productive conversation.

• Access the slides here
• View additional resources related to the presentation here

Facilitative Leadership

​Lori Britt from James Madison University and Lisa-Marie Napoli from Indiana University-Bloomington described how the facilitative leadership model can gather people in community to address challenges of public life in ways that are hopeful and focus on finding solutions, that rebuild interpersonal trust, and that emphasize shared humanity. Using tangible practice scenarios, this breakout simultaneously developed attendee’s facilitative leadership skills and showed them how to uplift facilitative leadership for others.

• Access the slides here

Exploring How to Motivate Civil Discourse on Campus

​James Coan from More Like US brought a strategic lens to dialogue work by focusing on motivation rather than just skill-building. His presentation tackles the often-overlooked question of how to inspire civil discourse across the political spectrum, addressing both how to increase interest and reduce hesitancy around difficult conversations. Leveraging a wealth of validated psychological and political research, this presentation explained why motivating students to participate in dialogue matters, a practical model for doing so, and the benefits of a motivation-centered approach.

• Access the slides here

Critical Reflection: Exploring Power and Language in Public Dialogue

​Renee Heath and Jen Borda, co-directors of the University of New Hampshire Civil Discourse Lab, offered crucial insights into the nuanced challenges of fostering belonging through language in dialogic spaces. In particular, their session emphasized how “critical reflexivity” and creating “discursive openings” can combat affective polarization and help facilitators promote inclusive public deliberation. Combining case studies with contemporary research insights, this workshop emphasized how the language used in deliberative spaces matter and offered tools for fostering gracious conversations.
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• Access the slides here 
• View Renee Heath’s research paper on this topic here

​The Promoting Democracy Teaching Series

Bethany Morrison and Megan Stowe from the University of Michigan presented a replicable model for preparing faculty across disciplines to integrate civic skills-building into their courses. Based on a University of Michigan pilot program hosted in Fall 2024, the breakout unveiled a unique curriculum and retreat framework which can connect fields as varied as nursing and dance to dialogue and civic engagement. Informed by retreat activities, evaluations, and testimonials, this session demonstrated an innovative way to simultaneously embed civic learning into diverse courses across campus.

• Access the slides here

Curriculum Design for Teaching Dialogue and Deliberation

Larry Schooler from the University of Texas, Austin, brought years of practical experience in undergraduate education to the question of implementing dialogue into pedagogy. His presentation showed how faculty can identify gaps in student dialogue learning, evaluate if their courses are improving student’s dialogue skills, and improve their teaching methods. Drawing from his extensive coursework at both UT Austin and Southern Methodist University, this breakout offered concrete strategies for educators seeking to help students acquire the skills to participate in and facilitate dialogue and deliberation through coursework.

These presentations, and the Higher Education Dialogue Summit as a whole, exemplified NCDD's commitment to strengthening democracy through civil discourse education. The diverse subjects covered by these experts demonstrate that there are numerous pathways to creating a campus culture where difficult conversations can flourish, both inside and outside the classroom. By bringing together these voices, the Higher Education Dialogue Summit created an unprecedented chance for field innovators to share their ideas at scale.