Dartmouth Dialogues, College President Sian Leah Beilock’s signature initiative to promote meaningful dialogue across differing perspectives, launched a new certificate program for students on Sept. 14.
The purpose of the Certificate in Principles of Dialogue program is to train Dartmouth students to “feel confident” in “productive dialogue around complex topics,” manage their emotional responses and ask “genuinely curious questions” about a conversation partner’s “underlying values and experiences,” according to the Dartmouth Dialogues website. Upon completion, students will receive a “digital badge that can be added to their LinkedIn profile.”
Dartmouth Dialogues program coordinator Trevor Fornara, who joined in March, “took up the mantle” of launching the certificate program, Fornara said in an interview with The Dartmouth. The digital badge can “articulate” to potential employers that a student was “engaged in the culture of dialogue” at Dartmouth and is an example of micro-credentialing, or a short program focused on a particular skill, Fornara said.
“The idea of micro-credentialing has become very popular in higher education and among employers,” he explained.
In the age of artificial intelligence, technical skills are “increasingly devalued” by employers, Fornara said. “Now, hiring managers are looking more for people with social communication skills as opposed to technical skills.”
Karen and Jim Frank ’65, who donated $25 million to the initiative in May, specified in the gift agreement that Dartmouth Dialogues should create “more professional development type opportunities with the undergraduates,” Fornara said.
Dartmouth Dialogues launched the certificate program after students expressed interest in getting “recognition or credit” for their engagement with Dartmouth Dialogues to “justify” their time commitments to employers, Fornara said.
“We need to make sure that we are valuing students’ time and commitment to this work,” he said.
Dartmouth Dialogues aims for 50 students to complete the certificate this year, according to Fornara. He said he did not know how many students have begun the program so far.
On Aug. 4, the College announced a national search for the next Dartmouth Dialogues executive director, who will take Dartmouth Dialogues’s “specialness” and apply it to a broader model for other institutions, former Dartmouth Dialogues executive director Kristi Clemens said in an August interview. Dartmouth Dialogues is also “exploring” the option of making the certificate available to high school students, Fornara said on day of the week.
“What we’re envisioning actually is a series of high school clubs,” he said. “Student leaders from the high schools would work with our student staff in the office to launch dialogue clubs.”
Students are required to complete three units to complete the certificate. Students first complete the Constructive Dialogue Institute’s two-and-a-half hour “baseline” training module titled “Perspectives.” CDI, a national non-profit that “equips individuals and institutions with the skills to communicate across differences and build cultures of constructive dialogue,” offers the “Perspectives” module to educational institutions, according to its website.
Fornara declined to share how much Dartmouth Dialogues paid to offer the module to Dartmouth students free of cost. Prices are not publicly listed on CDI’s website.
After completing “Perspectives,” students attend two workshops developed by Dartmouth Dialogue focusing on dialogue skills, which are open to all students. Led by Fornara and Dartmouth Dialogues deputy director Stephanie Glaros, the program will offer each workshop twice a term, once during a weekday evening and once during a Saturday afternoon. These workshops will begin late October, according to Fornara, and have not been previously offered.
Students must also attend two “observational dialogue events” which must convene individuals engaging in conversation on a topic in which they “have some disagreement,” Fornara said. Pre-approved events for these sessions include those from the Dartmouth Political Union’s debate series, Rockefeller Center for Public Policy’s programming and the Dickey Center for International Understanding’s Middle East Dialogue series.
Finally, students will complete a “capstone dialogue,” where they engage in conversation across a line of difference with someone outside of the Dartmouth community, and submit an “in-depth written reflection” on their experience, he said.
Rockefeller Center public programs and special events associate director Dvora Greenberg Koelling wrote in an email statement that Rockefeller Center programming “certainly aligns” with the Dartmouth Dialogues “mission.”
“We deeply value bringing experts and leaders from across a wide political and ideological spectrum to campus, and providing our students with an opportunity to hear, engage with and ask questions of these experts and leaders is central to our programming,” she wrote.
Dickey Center director Victoria Holt wrote in an email statement that the Dickey Middle East Dialogue discussions are “an opportunity to demonstrate many perspectives and engage students and the wider community in an exchange about major issues.” The Dickey Center is not directly involved in the certificate program, she added.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, DPU president Roger Friedlander ’27 wrote that the DPU “did not directly decide to participate in the program,” but that the certificate “is a natural extension” of the DPU’s work.
“Through our events, I believe students gain critical exposure to the ideas shaping public policy and affecting their daily lives, equipping them with the skills they need to meaningfully engage with them,” Friedlander wrote.
Students interviewed by The Dartmouth in Baker-Berry Library on Oct. 8 had mixed feelings about the certificate. Jonah Jacobstein ’30 said he would not be interested in completing the program.
“I think those skills can come naturally through other processes … having that certification on my LinkedIn would only be somewhat useful,” Jacobstein said.
Helen Hass ’30 said she would be interested in the program.
“I think being able to communicate with people across ideological and social cultural boundaries is really important,” Hass stated.
Anvi Kalyana ’27 said dialogue is a “really important skill.”
“I think if I had more terms left in my time at Dartmouth I would do” the certification, Kalyana said.
Glaros and Clemens directed requests for comment to Fornara. The Constructive Dialogues Institute did not respond to a request for comment.
