Previous Programming

Community Dialogue Circles – Conflict and Peace in Israel and Palestine
For students; attendee must commit to attending all sessions

• A dialogue is an exchange of information with a specific focus on mutual understanding and learning.  The goal of a dialogue is not to convince others that your perspective is correct, but to share and understand the variety of perspectives held by participants.  We focus on community rather than consensus.
• While there are trained facilitators, there is no authoritative “teacher” in the space. Nobody holds knowledge or experiences that make their perspectives more or less valid. That doesn’t mean that participants can’t critique, question, challenge, or disagree with each other. It simply means that there is some acknowledgement that each person is bringing valuable insights to the conversation that will broaden each of our understanding about this topic

What is this all about? You are warmly invited to join the Office of Equity and Inclusion on an exciting design thinking adventure! Using Susie Wise’s book, Design for Belonging, as a guide, we will explore how a sense of belonging is nurtured in our workplaces through our physical spaces, rituals and events, communications, and more. We will then introduce Stanford d.school’s design thinking model to apply what we’ve learned to real-life opportunities to actively address issues of belonging that exist in our own workspaces.

Who is this for? Are you a Bates staff or faculty member? If so, this opportunity is for YOU! Design thinking is about looking beyond our own perspectives and experiences, so the more diverse our group of thought adventurers, the better. No prior experience with the design thinking process? Perfect! This opportunity is especially for you. After all, that’s what learning opportunities are for – embracing the unfamiliar!