The Faculty Institute helps faculty across disciplines nationwide redesign a course, launch a new one, or create professional development workshops for their campus community to promote the skills, dispositions, and confidence that civil discourse requires. Faculty support student learning outcomes centered on critical thinking and reflection, listening, dichotomous thinking, confidence, and skills in engaging across lines of difference and willingness to dissent.

Overview

The Inclusive Dialogue Facilitation Certificate recognizes faculty who have actively engaged in the CITL Discourse Series and demonstrated a commitment to fostering inclusive, respectful, and transformative dialogue across campus. Through participation in workshops, reflective practice, and the creation of actionable resources, faculty will be equipped to lead and support discourse that promotes belonging and equity in their classrooms, departments, and broader university communities.

Benefits of a Certificate

• To develop your own skills,
• Help students to develop urgency in this area
• You are adding this to your annual review

Certificate Requirements

To earn the certificate, participants must complete the following:

1. Workshop Attendance
   Attend all four sessions of the CITL Discourse Series.
   • At least two sessions must be attended live, including the March 6th session.
     • Up to two sessions may be completed via recordings.
     • Estimated Time: ~9 hours
2. Reflective Surveys
   Complete the end-of-session reflective survey provided by the speakers.
   • Time is allocated during each session for this activity.
     • Estimated Time: ~15 minutes per session = 1 hour total
3. Reflective Journal: From Dialogue to Impact
   Translate learning from each session into a guided self-reflection towards actionable strategies.
   • Plans should outline steps for impact on the course, department, college, or campus level.
     • Submissions may be written, voice-recorded, visual, mind map, etc. Participants are encouraged to be creative.
     • Estimated Time: ~1 hours per session = 4 hours total

Instructions:

• Give faculty a short list of prompts (below).
• Emphasis on personal reflection for growth and impact, not evaluation.

Option 1: Reflection-Focused Journal Prompts
Focused on personal insight, growth, and meaning-making. Feel free to choose some or all the questions to answer. Session Reflection Questions: Based on this session, what is one change you want to make in your teaching, leadership, or practice? How would this change impact your target audience (e.g., students), colleagues, your department, and broader community? What strengths or resources do you bring that would support you in enacting this change? Where do you anticipate resistance or barriers, and how might you navigate them? Looking forward, what evidence of impact would show you that your practice is becoming more inclusive?

Option 2: Action-Focused Journal Prompts
Focused on strategy, planning, and implementation. Feel free to choose some or all the questions to answer. Session Action Planning Questions: What specific strategy or idea from this session could you implement in your course, program, department, or community? What short-term action could you take this semester, and what longer-term change will you consider pursuing? Who could you collaborate with to increase the reach and sustainability of your action(s)? What resources, policies, or supports would you need to move from intention to impact? How would you measure success (student feedback, participation rates, peer collaboration, policy change, etc.)?

(Box) I will allow my submission to be used to evaluate and showcase the impact of this series.

1. Final Deliverable: “Discourse in Action Showcase”
   Create a tangible contribution that supports inclusive discourse.
   • Format is flexible: video/audio interview, written reflection, teaching tool, mind map, visual, classroom strategy, etc. You are encouraged to be creative.
     • Deliverables will be shared with peers via a showcase or resource hub.
     • Estimated Time: ~4 hours total

Summary Table of Time Commitments

UIUC & C&S Faculty Institute
Preparation and Pre-Reads

Aligned with the series’ goal of exploring how shared values and respectful disagreement can coexist within and beyond the classroom, we believe it is important to establish a shared foundation and common entry point. In preparation for our time together, we invite you to complete a self-inventory about your background and perspectives, and to review the resources provided below. Please note that while these articles are both insightful and thought-provoking, we do not necessarily endorse the views of their authors. Rather, our hope is that their ideas will prompt reflection and help launch us into meaningful work during our sessions.

There will not be a designated time to formally discuss these readings. However, we encourage you to engage with the materials and complete the self-inventory so that you arrive prepared- ready to contribute to the community, foster productive conversations, and collaborate across differences.

Preparation Materials

• Self-inventory: Faculty Institute: Self-Inventory
• “Talking Like a Democratic Citizen” (Elizabeth Matto, Rutgers University Press): In this chapter from To Keep the Republic (Rutgers University Press, 2024), Dr. Matto argues that productive political discourse is essential to democracy but is undermined today by toxic rhetoric, polarization, and public discomfort with disagreement. The chapter emphasizes balancing free expression and civility, noting that true civility requires openness, responsiveness, and engagement—not just politeness. Matto highlights the importance of skills like active listening, perspective-taking, and fact-checking, sharing best practices from classrooms and community initiatives that foster cross-partisan understanding.
• The Preamble with Condoleezza Rice (Citizens & Scholars): Raj Vinnakota, President of Citizens & Scholars, talks with Secretary Rice, now the Director of the Hoover Institution , about the role of education in today’s urgent political moment. She posits that higher education must prepare students for civic responsibility by teaching a complex, honest understanding of democratic institutions and history. She further notes that embracing diverse perspectives and discomfort in discourse is essential to developing dedicated, effective citizens.
• A Framework for Civil Discourse (Notre Dame/Institute for Social Concerns): Cristy Guleserian of Arizona State explores a framework grounded in the values of empathy, humility, and pluralism and calls for personal and institutional responsibility to model civil discourse. Drawing inspiration from the Prayer of St. Francis, Guleserian emphasizes courage of conviction balanced with care, compassion, and creating campus communities oriented toward respectful, productive dialogue.