DCI Posts

As we begin implementing our federal FIPSE grant to assist 100 higher education institutions in developing their own civil discourse programs, the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI) and Deliberative Citizenship Network (DCN) are delighted to welcome three new staff members to our growing team.

Anne-Marie Moehring joins us as Program Director for the DCI and DCN. She will serve as the programs’ chief operational leader, coordinate our work with DCN partner institutions and support the implementation of our interconnected training, deliberation, and outreach programs. Anne-Marie brings extensive experience in strategic communications, change management, and the administration of federally and state-funded initiatives.

David Callaway will serve as Assistant Director for Training Programs. David will lead the design and delivery of training experiences that equip faculty, staff, students, and community members to facilitate productive dialogue and deliberation. He brings more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of public policy, education, pluralism, religious freedom, and civic engagement.

Bob Ritchie is our new Assistant Director for Civil Discourse Programs. Bob will coordinate DCI programs hosted at Davidson that partner institutions in the Deliberative Citizenship Network will be able to join. These include the DCI Fellows Program, Deliberative Forums, D Teams, and guest speaker events. His background combines higher education teaching, civic engagement, public sector leadership, and extensive federal and local public service.

We are thrilled to have Anne-Marie, David, and Bob on board as we expand opportunities for productive engagement across differences at Davidson and throughout the growing Deliberative Citizenship Network. Please join us in welcoming them!

Every fall, the DCI hosts a Semester Kickoff Party to welcome students back to campus and introduce them to the principles and practices of deliberation and dialogue. We continued this tradition this year on August 29^th in the Union’s 900 Room, and it was a blast. We had a great turnout, with over 40 students, staff, and community members engaging in active discussions over pizza. A range of people both new to and familiar with the DCI were there to listen to each other and share their perspectives.

This year, in addition to being able to learn about upcoming DCI programs, participants also had a chance to practice their deliberative skills as they worked to “Build the Best Democracy…” using Legos! They discussed with each other what they thought are the most important aspects of a democracy and then built a Lego structure that reflected those democratic elements. They ended up creating some colorful objects that represented different combinations of economic rights, types of elections, executive authority, judicial power, legislative representation, and civil rights and liberties that they argued made for the most responsive, resilient, and effective democratic republic.

Attendees had a blast discussing some key questions in a low-key context, and then they got to vote – in good democratic fashion – which creations – first at their tables and then overall – were the best representations of democracy. The overall winner took home a grand prize and the honorable mentions all won some prizes as well!

The event was a wonderful kickoff to the school year, providing participants with a meaningful opportunity to connect in new and fun ways. It highlighted the DCI’s efforts to foster meaningful dialogue about important topics facing our society, one Lego piece at a time!

In this holiday season of gathering with loved ones, you may be wondering what to do if sensitive topics come up that stimulate disagreement and discord. Should you follow the age-old dictum to “not talk about politics and religion” with loved ones? Or is there a way to navigate these conversations effectively?

Two organizations recently published some tips on how to best handle discussions over the holidays on contentious issues. The Constructive Dialogue Institute’s “Holiday Conversation Guide” and the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center  “Six Strategies for Staying Productive During Holiday Conversations”  both emphasize that meaningful conversations during emotionally charged moments—especially around politics and identity—depend first on managing tensions rather than winning arguments.

When conversations escalate, people become less capable of listening and more likely to entrench their views. Both guides therefore stress slowing down, pausing before responding, and stepping away when emotions run high. De-escalation is framed not as avoidance, but as a necessary condition for understanding: conversations improve when participants shift their goal from persuasion or “being right” to maintaining connection and openness. This reframing helps prevent conflict from damaging relationships and creates space for mutual learning.

A second shared insight is the importance of curiosity, dignity, and perspective-taking. Both texts encourage asking questions that surface the sources, values, experiences, and emotions underlying people’s beliefs rather than reacting to positions alone. Ask someone you disagree with to share a resource that influenced their perspective. By acknowledging emotions and inviting others to share their stories, participants signal respect even amid disagreement. Research cited in the two documents suggests that perspective-taking, especially when people share vulnerabilities, can reduce biases and deepen understanding over time. Importantly, neither document suggests agreement is required; instead, they argue that recognizing others’ humanity and moral frameworks is central to sustaining constructive engagement across difference.

Finally, both documents underscore that productive conversation is a skill that requires judgment and practice. Not every comment demands a response, and timing matters as much as content. Choosing when to engage, when to listen, and when to step back can help preserve relationships and maintain connections. Tools such as storytelling, feeling-based language, and structured approaches like pausing, acknowledging, listening, and sharing help participants respond deliberately rather than reactively. Taken together, the documents present a hopeful message: with practice, intentionality, and care, difficult conversations, especially with those closest to us, can become opportunities for growth, connection, and shared understanding rather than sources of division.

One of the big challenges — and opportunities — for encouraging more robust deliberation on college campuses is providing faculty members with the tools and frameworks that can help them create more deliberation-based courses. The DCI has contributed to this work through its Deliberative Pedagogy (DeeP) Collaborative, which has included over 60 faculty members from 28 institutions who have integrated deliberation about contentious topics into their syllabi. But how do we scale that work to include more faculty at more institutions, both across the country and around the world?

With support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) recently launched a five-part online series about deliberative dialogue that can help many more faculty members incorporate these strategies into their teaching. The series will be available to the more than 60,000 faculty at over 600 higher education institutions that partner with ACUE to help them improve the quality of their teaching. As a series of short Quick Studies, the series includes expert videos, student voices, real classroom examples, and an accessible “Engage, Envision, Experience, Explore” framework that makes deliberation both compelling and feasible for faculty members to adapt to their classrooms. An introduction to the series is available below.

DCI Faculty Director Graham Bullock served as the featured expert for the first two Quick Studies in the series, “What is Deliberative Dialogue?” and “Integrating Deliberative Dialogue into Your Course.” In his first short video, he explains how deliberative dialogue differs from other forms of discourse (conversation, discussion, dialogue, and debate), and why it is a useful framework for the college classroom. You can view the full video below.

“What is Deliberative Dialogue?”

In his second video, Dr. Bullock discusses why and how faculty might integrate deliberative dialogue into their courses. He explores how to introduce the principles and practices of deliberation to students, how to select topics for deliberation, how to design deliberative classroom activities, and how to assess student engagement. The short video is available below.

“Integrating Deliberative Dialogue into Your Course“

The other Quick Studies focus on “Preparing for Deliberative Dialogue Through Practice,” “Launching a Deliberative Dialogue,” and “Facilitating a Deliberative Dialogue,” and they feature insights from other experts on deliberation in higher education, including Nick Longo and Quincy Bevely from Providence College, John Rose from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Sandy Marshall and Jennifer Uno from Elon College, and Sarah Donovan from Wagner College.

If you are interested in viewing all of these Quick Studies and completing ACUE’s full series on deliberative dialogue, inquire with your institution to see if it is a member of ACUE. If so, you can access the series via the ACUE Commons.