Posted on February 20, 2025 by Laura May, PhD
At the University of Texas in San Antonio, Professor of Communication Sara DeTurk is making strides in fostering civil discourse through innovative education programs. After becoming trained as a Coach through IF’s Collaborative Discussion Project (CDP), she recently integrated activities from IF’s free CDP Toolkit into her dialogue facilitation class–with transformative results for her students and the broader university community.
Sara DeTurk in Classroom
Professor DeTurk has been teaching the university’s dialogue facilitation course for some time, aiming to train students in facilitating structured dialogues and preparing them to lead discussions in a psychologically safe way within the university community–and beyond. Furthermore, she–along with her colleague Professor Lori Lewis–recently co-founded the university’s Center for Dialogue and Deliberation, aiming to prepare students to engage in diverse perspectives, collaborate effectively in workplaces, and deliberate constructively in communities.
“We saw the need for our UTSA students to master skills in listening and participating in dialogue in order to gain better understanding of others who do not always share their world views and experiences.” (Source)
While they are distinct initiatives, Sara explains that the Center is a natural extension of the work she was already doing–“I had been working on these kinds of dialogues with various campus diversity programs, but the Center gave us the chance to formalize and expand that work into something more cohesive.”
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— Laura May, PhD
