Handshake ID: 9726261

Hiring Manager: Dr. Ciara Christian

Term: Spring 2025 semester with the ability for renewal

Yearly Stipend: $1500

Overall Series Description:

The Building Bridges Across Difference: A Dialogue for Every Day series equips faculty, staff, and students with practical tools to foster connection and understanding across differences in today’s polarized climate. Grounded in the Center for Social Justice Dialogue's commitment to shared power and inclusive practices, this series provides strategies to build trust, navigate challenging and emotionally charged moments, and create environments that encourage community and mutual respect. By embracing intergroup dialogue practices daily, participants will enhance their ability to inspire critical self-reflection, cultural storytelling, generous listening, and loving accountability.

Both sessions take place from 11:30am - 1:30pm and will be held in ITE 237. Bring your own lunch!

If you have accessibility needs, please email csjdialogue@umbc.edu.

Session Descriptions:

1. Exploring Your Role in Social Change • 3/25

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/140997
This session focuses on identifying entry points into social change and allyship work. Participants will explore tools and practices that help them “see” themselves as part of a larger ecosystem of social change. Protests, voting, and other more obvious forms of advocacy are great, but they are not the only way. This session will help participants link their existing skills and passions to a wide array of practices and approaches to social change and allyship.

2. Loving Accountability: Practicing Grace and Forgiveness • 4/29

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/140998
In this session, participants will explore loving accountability, a competency for dialogic community building, which is about centering humanity and prioritizing relationships as we call in and redress harm. This session will emphasize the importance of grace and forgiveness in the accountability process, drawing on the work of Kazu Haga and other works rooted in Kingian nonviolence. Participants will have the opportunity to practice tools connected to loving accountability like calling in harm and offering apologies.

This series is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Overall Series Description:

The Building Bridges Across Difference: A Dialogue for Every Day series equips faculty, staff, and students with practical tools to foster connection and understanding across differences in today’s polarized climate. Grounded in the Center for Social Justice Dialogue's commitment to shared power and inclusive practices, this series provides strategies to build trust, navigate challenging and emotionally charged moments, and create environments that encourage community and mutual respect. By embracing intergroup dialogue practices daily, participants will enhance their ability to inspire critical self-reflection, cultural storytelling, generous listening, and loving accountability.

All sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 11:30 - 1:30 pm and will be held VIRTUALLY.

If you have accessibility needs, please email csjdialogue@umbc.edu.

Session Descriptions:

1. Setting the Tone - Dr. Ciara Christian + Caleb Ruck

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/137090
This session focuses on laying the groundwork for a dialogic community environment. Participants will explore strategies to establish trust, build relationships across difference, and create inclusive norms. Drawing on principles of circle pedagogy and shared power, attendees will learn how to set intentions that invite curiosity and co-create a sense of belonging amongst diverse groups.

2. Navigating Hot Moments - Dr. Jasmine Lee + Dr. Ciara Christian

RSVP: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/csjd/events/137091
University campuses are spaces where challenging conversations can arise unexpectedly. In this session, participants will develop tools to navigate "hot moments"—those intense or emotionally charged situations—while maintaining a commitment to inclusion and shared learning. Through case studies and interactive practice, attendees will strengthen their ability to hold space for difficult dialogues and navigate identity-based differences with empathy, clarity, and compassion.

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.