Do you want to meet and connect with others on campus? Do you want to learn and practice skills that can be useful in your work and in classrooms? The campuswide Intergroup Dialogue Initiative (IGDI) invites all UMass Amherst students, faculty, and staff to join facilitated small-group circles during the Days of Dialogue - March 24-26. These dialogue, listening, and storytelling circles invite members of our university community to share and consider similar and different perspectives on a particular topic in small groups. Each circle is co-facilitated by faculty and staff participating in the Dialogue Facilitation Fellows program.
Rooted in indigenous practices, circles rely on co-facilitated structures that use different methodologies that support sharing and listening to others’ perspectives and experiences. Circle facilitators use guidelines to encourage everyone’s participation such as speaking from their own experience, listening with the intent to understand and honoring confidentiality.
The small-group circle topics are:
- Listening Circles: How Are We Each Navigating Political Polarization in our Families, Classrooms, Workplaces, & Communities?
- Storytelling Circles: What Does Success, Fulfillment, and/or Purpose Mean to You at this Time in Your Life?
- Dialogue Circles: How Are AI and Social Media Interacting with Our Wellbeing?
Register here for one of the nine small-group circles scheduled March 24-26.
For more information, visit the Days of Dialogue webpage.