Principal Investigator: Kim White-Mills, Professor, Department of Communication Studies, School of Liberal Arts, IUPUI
Co-principal Investigators: Ronald Sandwina, Senior Lecturer, Department of Communication Studies, School of Liberal Arts, IUPUI
Project Title: Intergroup Dialogue across the Curriculum: Integrating IGD into an IUPUI Education
Funding Level: $5,000
Abstract:
Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) can be defined as “facilitated, face‐to‐face meetings between students from two or more social identity groups that have a history of conflict or potential conflict (Zuniga,2005).” Intergroup dialogue is a communicative process that emphasizes issues related to social justice, social group membership, identity, and the positionality (privilege and oppression) of groups (Lopez & Zuniga, 2010; Rozas, 2007).
The School of Liberal Arts’ Department of Communication Studies is providing a unique educational experience to all IUPUI students that contributes to their academic degree attainment, leadership development, and citizenship. A 2‐course, credit‐earning sequence of courses in which students first engage in IGD and second, develop the skills to facilitate IGD discussions is proposed. The 2‐course sequence is offered through the Department of Communication Studies, as dialogue and facilitation are fundamental to the discipline of communication. Students will receive credit for the courses and also meet the qualifications to serve as facilitators for future academic courses and co‐curricular programs across the IUPUI campus.
Aligned with the IUPUI Strategic Plan, the mission of both the School of Liberal Arts and the Department of Communication includes the development of curriculum that meets IUPUI’s strategic action item #9, which is to “Create explicit curricular and co‐curricular linkages that help students connect in‐class learning with out‐of‐class opportunities for leadership experiences, personal development, community engagement, and application of new knowledge” (http://strategicplan.iupui.edu/StudentSuccess), creating an IGD curriculum is but another step towards meeting the needs of the 21 century college graduate.