The Center for Dialogue & Deliberation has several opportunities designed for UTSA students and San Antonio and nearby communities. To learn more about current events and participation opportunities follow us on Rowdylink, on our Instagram, or email our Directors Dr. Laurie Lewis (laurie.lewis@utsa.edu) and /or Dr. Sara DeTurk (sara.deturk@utsa.edu).
Campus Dialogues Project (opportunities throughout fall and spring semesters)
UTSA Students facilitate and participate in structured dialogue, which involves conversation with those who come from different walks of life, cultural backgrounds, social groups, and political orientations. All UTSA students are welcome at our CDD dialogue events. These opportunities afford participants’ reflection on the implications of diversity in our communities and are important for participants in building relationships with people different from themselves. Structured dialogue involves deep listening with ground rules and facilitation by trained individuals to move through the experience in respectful ways and intentional focus on personal experiences. Look for current events on Rowdylink or our Instagram.
Community Connections Project (opportunities throughout fall and spring semesters)
The goal of this project is to cultivate connections among UTSA students and introduce them to practices that foster community. At the foundation for civic communication are familiarity, trust, and connectedness to community. In this project CDD organizes and sponsor events and activities intended to bring together students in fun ways. Look for current events on Rowdylink or our Instagram.
Team Trivia –Annual fall event where students learn the value in consulting the group and listening intently before advancing an answer.
Eat-Art-Talk --Students will share a meal and engage in conversation about something artistic (e.g., film, art display, poetry, concert, or story) and learn the value of appreciating art through reflection and sharing perspectives.
Dialogue Ambassadors Project (funded through support of Project Pericles, The Mellon Foundation, and the Eugene M. Lang Foundation)
The Center for Dialogue & Deliberation received a 2026-2027 Project Pericles Periclean Civic Fellowship Award. This Pericles Civic Fellowship equips campus champions with seed funding, structured peer learning, and institutional visibility to test and refine civic learning initiatives. Grounded in Project Pericles’ commitment to the humanities and to educating for democracy, grant activities are designed to cultivate critical thinking, civic identity, and democratic engagement among students, faculty, staff, and community partners.
CDD will develop The Dialogue Ambassador Project (DAP) at UTSA which will recruit a cohort of six funded Dialogue Ambassadors (DAs) over the fall and spring semesters. Selected students will receive skills training and gain experience in dialogue facilitation. As a Dialogue Ambassadors students will help plan four university wide dialogue events for spring 2027 semester. Our ambassadors will reflect on their experiences in facilitating these events and engage in goal setting to further enhance their skill sets for their professional and civic lives.
Deliberative Citizenship Network (funded through support of the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative at Davidson College)
The Center for Dialogue & Deliberation has been selected to join the Deliberative Citizenship Network (DCN), a multi-year, multi-institution initiative designed to strengthen civil discourse, democratic engagement, and civic learning on college campuses nationwide. Led by the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI) and housed within the D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good at Davidson College, the DCN provides a cohort of UTSA undergraduate students with funded positions to learn about deliberation, dialogue, and facilitation over the course of the 2026-2027 academic year.
Selected UTSA students will participate in a series of national deliberative trainings, forums, and discourse activities. The students also will serve as members of the UTSA Discourse Team and develop and execute dialogue events on our campus. Faculty members of the DCN will create new pedagogical materials and design new courses to further build deliberative infrastructure on campus.
Community Dialogues in San Antonio and Surrounding Communities
The Center for Dialogue & Deliberation partners with communities, neighborhoods, nonprofits, governmental organizations, and others to provide opportunities for community members to learn and practice dialogue and deliberative skills to have meaningful, healthy conversations about difficult topics and decisions. Our UTSA student facilitators serve as facilitators (and sometimes notetakers) for community events focused on idea generation, issue exploration, and story-sharing. CDD staff and faculty support community leaders to design powerful events that bring together diverse stakeholders to listen, share, describe, engage, and compare ideas. Guided by student facilitators and ground rules, these events can serve as foundational to decision-making and as starting points in bringing greater understanding among community members. To explore possibilities for partnerships, contact Dr. Lewis (laurie.lewis@utsa.edu).
