Building Community through Sustained Dialogue
A campus learning series for students, faculty, and staff – building practical skills for dialogue, effective communication, conflict management, and relationship-building
Mission
Beyond Awareness: Building Skills through Practice
This series of workshops will strengthen how students, staff, and faculty build connections and move beyond an “us versus them” mindset — through shared language, constructive dialogue, and practical skill-building.
Objectives include shifting everyday interaction norms by building skills to recognize, interpret, and respond to interactions across identity, role, and various lived experiences.
Purpose and Goals
Belonging is shaped through everyday interactions, communication patterns, shared norms, and how we respond when conflict arises. Therefore, the central objective is to equip campus community members to recognize, interpret, and respond to interactions across lines of identity, roles, and lived experience in ways that reduce othering and support more constructive engagement across campus contexts.
This series is designed to not only increase awareness, but to also strengthen Western’s capacity for more consistent and effective engagement across academic, professional, and interpersonal contexts. Participants will have repeated opportunities across the academic year to deepen conceptual clarity, reflect on lived experiences, and practice concrete behaviors that strengthen belonging, improve communication, and support more effective responses to conflict.
Partners
Led by WWU’s Office of Equity, this collaborative initiative encompasses internal partnerships, including with the Morse Leadership Institute; local campus partners including Bellingham Technical College, Whatcom Community College; as well as external partnerships with Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center and the Sustained Dialogue Institute.
Request an Accommodation
WWU is an equal opportunity institution. For disability accommodations, please contact The Office of Equity. Advance notice is appreciated.
Contact Us
To learn more about this initiative, please contact officeofequity@wwu.edu.
Upcoming Events
Sustained Dialogue Series Kick-Off Event
Thursday, October 8, 2026
11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Location: Wilson Library Reading Room
All are welcome to join this session which serves to officially kick off the Sustained Dialogue Series. You are encouraged to use the registration link to sign up for this event, but please feel welcome to join even if not possible to register beforehand. Participants may join for the entire event, or are encouraged to attend as much of the event as their schedule provides. Members of the project team will begin by providing a program overview and introducing project partners, and provide a preview of the series events, anticipated through the 2026-27 academic year. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in two practical skills sessions, facilitated by project partners. Food will be provided. If you can, please fill out this form to register for the event, but either way, we hope you will join us!
Foundations: When Does Dialogue Work, and When Should We Debate Instead?
Monday, October 12, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Online
The workshop focuses on the modes of conversations that we have for advocating, navigating relationships, and strengthening how we engage about important topics, including how to know when to use academic discussion, dialogue, debate, or disengagement. All are welcome. Register for this online session.
Thomas Kilman Inventory Workshop
Monday, October 19, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location: Kaiser Borsari Hall, Room 122
In-Person
In this session, we’ll examine the relationship between conflict, leadership, and followership, as leaders spend a significant amount of time addressing conflict in their work. We’ll spend the bulk of our time learning about different conflict styles and how they impact interactions with others and goal accomplishment by completing a survey and engaging in reflective discussion. This workshop will help you identify your individual default style and explore how different conflict style impact interactions with others and goal accomplishment. All are welcome. Register for this in-person session.
Future Events
Metaphors and Worldviews
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Kaiser Borsari Hall, Room 122
In-Person
This workshop explores how terms encode information and encourages curiosity about others' worldviews. All are welcome. Register for this in-person session.
Us vs. Them: Transforming Polarization in Election Times
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Online
Explores the common responses that we fall into when we feel threatened and how to recognize when we may be at the point of dehumanization or narrowed thinking. All are welcome. Register for this online session.
Skills for Conflict De-escalation
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Online
This workshop provides tools for understanding the point of no return in conflict, the role of safety in conflict, common myths about ways out of conflict, and ways to practice self-regulation to navigate hard conversations and moments effectively within one's window of tolerance. All are welcome. Register for this online session.
Roots of Conflict and its Physiology
Friday, November 6, 2026
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Old Main Solarium, Room 590
In-Person
Through a mixture of lectures, personal reflection, and small group conversations, this session will explore the source of conflict and make the case that conflict is rooted in unmet needs. Participants will have opportunities to consider what activates a conflict response in them and what their personal suite of conflict stress symptoms are. With that foundation, we will build a shared understanding of the conflict (stress) cycle and the physiological changes that occur in our bodies throughout the cycle. The primary focus of this session is to build self-awareness. All are welcome. Register for this in-person session.
Conflict Styles and Strategies
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Location: Viking Union 565
In-Person
This workshop explores anger, an emotion often associated with conflict, can be hard to manage and difficult to understand. In this session, participants will explore what anger is, what it protects, and the hidden emotions that are often associated with anger. From there, we will look at the 5 conflict strategies. Each participant will have an opportunity to take a conflict strategy assessment and to spend time in small groups discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the strategies. As we continue to build on self-awareness, we will encourage participants to be deliberate in choosing a conflict strategy based on what their goals are for the situation and how they value the relationship with the other person or people they are in conflict with. All are welcome. Register for this in-person session.