Deeper Dialogues
What was the Deeper Dialogues Initiative at UVA?
Deeper Dialogues was a series of facilitated and structured small-group conversations around five topics of human flourishing taking place through June 2024. It is sponsored by Theological Horizons in partnership with Essential Partners.
What was the goal of Deeper Dialogues?
The Deeper Dialogues initiative has three primary goals:
● To convene a variety of stakeholders — faculty, students, staff & administrators — from across the university community to improve understanding and connection around common challenges and goals;
● To leverage the unique resources of the university context (e.g. intellectual curiosity, original research, physical proximity) to facilitate honest exchange and promote greater collaboration between and among various members of the university community; AND
● To give community members an experience of reflective structured dialogue in which conversations of meaning and purpose foster a university culture of greater compassion and care, with the added hope that participants will leave equipped with dialogic communication tools transferable to other UVA spaces, groups and discussions.
Why UVA?
In challenging circumstances - whether it be a global pandemic or contested questions about an institution’s legacy and future - it is vital for students and university leaders to understand and connect with one another as human beings. At UVA, there are few opportunities available for faculty, leaders, and students to bring their multiplicity of voices and perspectives together around questions of common purpose. There are also few opportunities for community members to share their experience, wisdom, research, and/or leadership that can enrich common life. The Deeper Dialogues initiative uses conversation as a tool to facilitate and strengthen valuable connections at UVA.
Who Is It For?
All Wahoos are most welcome. If you are a UVA student, a member of faculty, staff, or administration please join us and invite others from the UVA community as well. People of all traditions and commitments (or none) are warmly encouraged to bring their valuable contributions to these Deeper Dialogues.
What did it look like?
Each set of dialogues centers on a quality of being that is central to human flourishing: Resilience, Healing, Forgiveness, Inspiration, and Hope. Each one follows the Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD) model developed by Essential Partners, which is designed to foster listening and genuine curiosity amongst participants. Among features of this distinctive model:
A 15-minute introductory reflection by a senior member of the university community sharing personal experience and/or relevant research related to the theme of the dialogue;
Dialogue stakeholders are broken up into small groups of 6-8 people and a facilitator. These groups include a mix of students, faculty, staff, and/or members of the administration;
Within these small groups, the facilitator guides members through a series of questions, reflective/note-taking periods; responses are given in a “go-round” fashion with everyone sharing for an equal amount of time and questioning with an attitude of open inquiry.
Multiple 6-8 member dialogue groups are convened for each of the five dialogue topics in order to accommodate as many members of the community as would like to participate;
The two dialogues held in Spring 2021 will be convened virtually.
All dialogues are closely timed to last no more than 75 minutes for a total event time of 90 minutes..
More about Essential Photovoice
Photovoice & Deeper Dialogues
Essential Partners was founded in 1989, with the mission of helping equip people to live and work better together in community by building trust and understanding across differences. Their trademark approach -Reflective Structured Dialogue- empowers people to have healthier, more complex, more inclusive conversations about polarizing differences of values, beliefs, and identities.
Interfaith Photovoice has been around almost as long as EP. It is an arts-based approach to understanding that invites participants to respond to a series of prompts with their own photographs. These photos are used in a series of meetings as the basis for small and large group discussions. At the end of a project, the visuals and narratives are used to engage a broader audience.
Essential Photovoice combines the concepts and methodologies of both approaches to bring more richness to connecting around or across a social issues, and to illuminate and illustrate what is important to those impacted (or inspired!) by curating an exhibition, hosting an event, or collaborating on a tangible item through which other people can engage or better understand that topic.
Parents Weekend Essential Photovoice
Over UVA Family Weekend, several family groups and other interested UVA community members gathered in Newcomb Hall to intentionally and openly connect through photographs. The prompt was simple: look on your phone and find 1-2 photos that show some defining aspect of the past few months for you. They could show areas where you’ve experienced flourishing or challenges you’ve faced. Read more about it on our blog here!
Fall 2023 Essential Photovoice Facilitator Cohort
For 3 weeks in October, a group of 8 folks met and participated in a series of facilitated conversations about community using the Essential Photovoice (EPV) dialogue format. Learn more about this cohort and see their zine on our blog here!
Previous Projects
Act justly, Love Mercy: A Community conversation
On Sunday, April 2nd from 3:30-5:30pm at Alumni Hall (221 Emmet St S, Charlottesville, VA 22903) UVA students, faculty, staff, and administrators, along with Charlottesville community members, will gather to discuss how they see Bryan Stevenson's ideas of justice and mercy at work in our daily lives.
On Rituals of Hope
Our Fall 2022 Dialogue featured Vanessa Ochs, UVA Professor of Jewish Studies. We invite you to view the video of her talk — and then take the handout of thoughts and questions into your own conversations around hope, grief and loss. We are grateful to the UVA Parents Program for their support and to Essential Partners for their coaching!
On Healing with Ian Solomon
Dr. Ian Solomon is the Dean of the Batten School of Public Policy. Watch his Spark Talk, which kicked off the fifth in a series of five Deeper Dialogues at UVA hosted by Theological Horizons in partnership with Essential Partners. We thank the UVA Parents Fund for their generous support.
On Forgiveness with Amrisha Vaish
Amrisha Vaish is the Pamela Feinour Edmonds and Franklin S. Edmonds, Jr. Discovery Associate Profressor in Psychology at the University of Virginia.
On Hope with Shaka Sydnor
Shaka Sydnor was an Assistant Dean of Students at UVA.
On Inspiration with Carolyn Mitchell Dillard
Carolyn Mitchell Dillard is the University-Community Liaison | Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | The Center for Community Partnerships at UVA (watch her talk)
On Resilience with Matt Weber
Matt Weber is the Senior Assistant to Pres. Jim Ryan at UVA.
THANK YOU UVA PARENTS FUND FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT OF DEEPER DIALOGUES!