Student curricular opportunities

• First-Year Seminar – Social Justice Dialogue (FYS 102 – 25) - semester long undergraduate course designed to support students in: (1) understanding and utilizing dialogue to explore social justice concepts (specifically race and racism), (2) developing skills for peer facilitation, (3) exploring entry points to engaging in social change
• Community Leadership - Social Justice Leadership & Dialogue (CLDR - 610) - 5 weeks skills course in the Community Leadership program designed to support community leaders in utilizing dialogue pedagogy and practice to engage in inclusive leadership 

Student co-curricular opportunities

• IDEAL - Internship experience designed for students to engage in peer-facilitation
• Interact - Experience for first-year residential students to develop foundational skills to engage in difficult dialogue
• Facilitated Dialogues/Town Halls - As requested by departments and groups, CSJD will collaborate to host community dialogues and facilitate community Town Halls to explore community needs, facilitate group problem solving, and develop associated action steps. 

Faculty/Staff engagement opportunities

• Dialogue Facilitation Training - Faculty and Staff are invited to participate in an 8 hour dialogue facilitation training. Participants will learn foundational theory, practice key skills, and explore activities and approaches to engaging dialogue in their daily work on campus. 
• Facilitated Dialogues/Town Halls - As requested by departments and groups, CSJD will collaborate to host community dialogues and facilitate community Town Halls to explore community needs, facilitate group problem solving, and develop associated action steps. 
• Fac/Staff Dialogues (Beginning Summer 2025) - Six-session cohort focused on exploring social identity, power, privilege, and oppression, while developing intergroup dialogue skills and practices.

The Center for Social Justice Dialogue transforms education and interrupts systems of oppression by engaging campus community members in developing the knowledge, awareness and skills necessary to build bridges across difference toward a more loving and just world. Research affirms that relationships across difference are key for building empathy, cultural humility, and belonging on campuses, and we believe that dialogue provides the skills, practices, and behaviors that lead to more loving and compassionate campuses. 

The Center opened its doors in 2024 to expand campus dialogue engagement for faculty, staff and students grounded in intergroup dialogue theory, social justice education, and interdisciplinary critical education frameworks. In particular, the Center aims to engage in decolonized practices, and uses circle pedagogy and shared power approaches, to invite campus community members into deep curiosity and exploration. As part of this approach, the Center desires to engage members of the community as circle-builders --community members who are able to widen the circle of belonging to invite more of us to be in community together.

Through facilitated dialogues, facilitation training, course engagement, training opportunities, and immersive experiences, campus community members deepen their understanding of themselves, others, and the world in the context of systems of power, privilege and oppression. As a result of engagement, campus community members are empowered to radically imagine a more just world, while exploring shared responsibility and actions that create the world we all deserve. 

The Center considers dialogue as not only a practice, but a way of being. Beyond facilitated dialogues and structured engagement opportunities, the Center draws on intergroup dialogue theory to explore skills, practices, and behaviors, or Competencies for Dialogic Community Building that engage dialogue practices on a daily basis toward inclusive excellence and a sense of belonging for all at UMBC.