Sustained Dialogue Network Holds UA Workshops

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama Crossroads Community Center and Sustained Dialogue Campus Network are presenting a series of workshops on campus Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 28-29, designed to enhance intercultural communication skills among students, faculty and staff.

Prior to the workshops, Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, UA vice president for community affairs, will make opening remarks on Friday, Aug. 27, at 2:45 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Anderson Room.

Following Pruitt’s remarks, there will be an informal conversation about sustained dialogue on campuses today. The public is invited to the opening remarks. Crossroads’ SDCN, a group of faculty, staff and students with interests in sharing culture on UA’s campus, will host the informal talk.

On Saturday, the SDCN team will lead the workshop “Facilitating Intercultural Dialogue” in the Anderson Room from 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. for some 67 UA students and nine staff members who are registered for the session. The workshop will provide professional training in strategies for effective intercultural communication.

On Sunday, the SDCN team will host moderator training for UA’s Sustained Dialogue chapter from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Anderson Room and it is open to all participants of Saturday’s event.

Students attending the workshop represent a variety of leadership programs on campus including: Housing and Residential Communities, Honors College, New College, Creative Campus, Libraries, Black Student Union, Student Government Association, Women’s Resource Center, Capstone International Students, Blackburn Institute, Center for Community-Based Partnerships, Crossroads Community Center, Sustained Dialogue, the School of Social Work and the journalism department.

SDCN was founded in 2002 to promote sustained dialogue leading to reducing racial, ethnic and other deep-rooted conflicts in the United States and abroad by training, mentoring and connecting university and high school student leaders.

Crossroads Community Center is an initiative of the UA Division of Community Affairs, providing campus leadership in the areas of cultural programming and intercultural education.