Democracy & Dialogues

Through the Democracy and Dialogues Initiative, UConn is working to increase democratic and civic capacity by supporting community dialogues on critical issues, providing moderator and facilitation training for dialogues and deliberations, and partnering with campus colleagues and local institutions to increase meaningful participation by all community members.


This initiative is part of Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs and supported by the Office of Global Affairs, the Office of the Provost, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Humanities Institute, UConn Extension, and the Division of Student Affairs’ Parent's Fund.

5 person panel discusses housing discrimination
A five-person panel, organized by Dr. Fiona Vernal (center), discusses housing discrimination. Participants include Joshua Serrano, Pastor AJ Johnson, Annette Sanderson, and Fernando Betancourt.

The Encounters Series

The Encounters Series is dedicated to fostering unexpected conversations around divisive issues and obscure knowledge. The program dives deeply into subjects that are of interest to the Greater Hartford community through facilitated, small-group dialogues followed by a question-and-answer style conversation with UConn faculty and community partners. Readings are provided beforehand to encourage informed and informal dialogue within conversations that often prove to be polarizing, and thus unproductive. Read more about The Encounters Series through Humanities for All.

Upcoming Events

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  • Nov
    19
    Difficult Subjects/Civil Conversations: A Workshop on Structured Dialogue (Virtual)
    10:00 AM

    Join us for this Democracy & Dialogues workshop to learn about how to plan, host and facilitate a structured dialogue.

  • Nov
    20
    American Dreams? An Encounters Dialogue
    YWCA Hartford
    4:00 PM

    Join us for a structured dialogue on the complex topic of immigration in America, covering its historical background, economic impact, and the personal stories of immigrants who contribute to the nation’s fabric. 

  • Jan
    15
    UConn Dialogic Classroom
    IPB
    8:30 AM

    This workshop offers practical tools to Faculty to help foster an open, conversational classroom culture, enhance student engagement, and prepare UConn students for dialogue competency in general education.

  • Jan
    16
    UConn Dialogic Classroom
    IPB
    12:00 AM

    This workshop offers practical tools to Faculty to help foster an open, conversational classroom culture, enhance student engagement, and prepare UConn students for dialogue competency in general education.

Public Partnerships

Akomawt Educational Initiative
The Amistad Center for Art and Culture
Connecticut's Old State House
HartBeat Ensemble
Hartford Public Library
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Engagement

Democracy & Dialogues Student Fellowship Program

The fellowship program is a University-wide partnership with participation from academic, service, outreach, and administrative units. Fellowship teams engage in a year-long shared learning process, develop projects that apply dialogue and deliberation to specific content areas and curricular settings, and make use of, and potentially contribute to, current research in practice.

Get Involved

Students, faculty, and community members may host or suggest a dialogue, or join one of our many trainings to become a facilitator or moderator for one of our upcoming dates.  See the events section above for our upcoming training sessions.

To host your own dialogue or request a consultation, fill out the form below to connect with our team.

News

‘Today’s conversation is important, because it is a reminder of what our discourse can be’

This year’s Metanoia will focus on ‘pathways to productive civil discourse’

History professor Brendan Kane and other UConn experts hosted statewide discussions on the nation’s founding documents, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Connecticut Humanities Council

Following a divisive election, a multimedia collaboration asks searching questions about values and principles.

Our People

Leadership

Brendan Kane

Brendan Kane

Co-Director, Democracy & Dialogues Initiative
Professor, History & Literature, Cultures, & Languages

brendan.kane@uconn.edu

Nana Amos

Co-Director, Democracy & Dialogues Initiative
Director, Community Outreach & Engagement

nana.amos@uconn.edu

People

Nana Amos

Director of Community Outreach & Engagement, Co-Director, Democracy & Dialogue Initiative , Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs

nana.amos@uconn.edu

Brendan Kane

Brendan Kane

Co-Director, Democracy & Dialogues Initiative
Professor, History & Literature, Cultures, & Languages

brendan.kane@uconn.edu