For over 30 years, SUNY Oswego has worked to develop, implement, and evolve programming and initiatives which foster an inclusive environment and increase opportunities for all members of our community to find belonging, thrive, and succeed. Building on the impetus of our historical campus efforts, and in continued pursuit of our institutional diversity goals, there is a widely recognized need for members of the community to talk and listen, and to grow in skill to better build relationships among participants with different social identities.
The combination of these factors in our era of political polarization have necessitated that our university seek a proactive approach, recognizing that courageous conversations about differences can occur is an important educational and social-emotional growth experience. In these spaces we confront long-held, sometimes implicit, stereotypes and find ways to build bridges of understanding.
SUNY Oswego Principals of Dialogue
- Listen to Learn
- Speak from Your Own Experience
- Be Open to Reevaluating Your Own Assumptions
- See the Value in Others' Perspectives
- We Create Better Solutions Together
ODP
Five Year Dialogue Plan
The Oswego Dialogue Project Five-Year Plan, supported by the Triandiflou Institute in collaboration with InterFaith Works’ El-Hindi Center for Dialogue and Action (CDA), offers dialogue opportunities, dialogue facilitation training, and supports a growing learning community of dialogue practitioners.
Dialogue Fellows
A Learning Community of Dialogue Practitioners
All members of the campus community who have completed dialogue facilitation training with the InterFaith Works’ El-Hindi Center for Dialogue and Action (CDA) are welcome to participate in a learning community of dialogue practitioners. Some may be interested in the more sustained commitment of becoming a Dialogue Fellow for an academic year.
2024-2025 Dialogue Focus
Political Dialogues
For Academic Year 2024-25, the Oswego Dialogue Project will specifically focus on political dialogues. The anchor for this work will be embedding in all sections of GST 104 a series of dialogues focused on political socialization and identity as well as planning and executing several co-curricular dialogues after the election, including in the weeks after Election Day and in February and March 2025.
Department Dialogues
Dialogues about Race and Identity
SUNY Oswego and the InterFaith Works’ El-Hindi Center for Dialogue and Action (CDA) are collaborating to bring intergroup dialogue to the SUNY Oswego campus community. The dialogue program is meant to become a transformational experience where people from myriad cultures and backgrounds find new ways to learn from each other and to work together.