UW Dialogue Initiative

Faculty Dialogue Fellowship

Supporting Constructive Dialogue Across Difference in UW Classrooms

The Faculty Dialogue Fellowship is an opportunity for instructors across the University of Washington campuses to help students build the skills and mindsets needed to engage in constructive dialogue across differences. This tri-campus pilot initiative is a collaboration between Teaching@UW (UW Seattle Center for Teaching and Learning, UW Bothell Learning & Teaching Collaborative, UW Tacoma Office of Teaching Excellence) and the UW Dialogue Initiative. It builds on the success of the Five for Flourishing teaching model by offering a practical, flexible set of classroom strategies that can be integrated into courses across disciplines. Participating faculty will join a small cohort to adapt and pilot low-effort, high-impact teaching practices that help students engage thoughtfully with diverse perspectives.

What Is the Faculty Dialogue Fellowship?

This pilot program will provide 8 faculty with a curated set of adaptable teaching practices designed to:

• Be low effort to implement
• Fit across disciplines and course formats
• Support both skill-building and application
• Encourage repeated practice over time

Faculty will adapte and integrate these strategies in their teaching and contribute to shaping a scalable model for broader adoption across UW.

Why This Pilot Matters

The University of Washington’s Provost’s Office launched the UW Dialogue Initiative in 2024 to activate, align, and assess efforts that encourage meaningful discourse among incoming and continuing students across the Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses. As part of this work, a shared set of tri‑campus student learning outcomes has been adopted that include:

• Curiosity and self‑awareness
• Critical thinking and evaluation of information
• Dialogue and collaborative problem solving
• Mindfulness
• Bridging differences

All incoming first‑year and transfer students are introduced to the importance of dialogue and the foundational mindsets and skills needed to engage constructively across differences. To further develop and sustain these capacities, students need ongoing opportunities to practice dialogue skills throughout their academic journey. Classrooms provide a critical space for this continued practice. The ‘Five for Dialogue’ pilot supports faculty in intentionally designing learning environments that help students:

• Navigate complex conversations
• Engage across differences in identity and perspective
• Build skills for constructive disagreement and collaboration

Faculty Commitments

Faculty members in the pilot will:

• Attend four 1-hour virtual meetings during AY 2026-27, including an orientation, midpoint check-in, end-of-term reflection, and final wrap-up.
• Develop a brief implementation plan
• Implement at least one dialogue strategy in two courses during AY 2026-27
• Distribute a short pre/post student survey each quarter

Faculty Support & Benefits

Participants will receive:

• A $1,000 stipend to be distributed spring quarter 2027
• Access to ready-to-use teaching strategies and materials
• Connection to a cross-campus community of educators
• Support in integrating dialogue practices into their courses
• Opportunity to contribute to a scalable institutional initiative

For more information, please contact Fran Lo, UW Dialogue Initiative Project Lead: franlo@uw.edu