As part of the campus-wide Empowering Dialogue Across Differences initiative, this interactive workshop invites faculty to explore “what works” to engage students in dialogue across lines of difference. Participants will consider their roles as educators in a time of pernicious polarization, as well as strategies for addressing moments of tension in the classroom. Faculty will reflect on how to design academic spaces that cultivate inclusive and civil discourse—no matter the discipline.

Nicholas V. Longo is a chair and professor of Global Studies and co-director of the Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy (DID) Lab at Providence College.

Nick is an advisory board member for College Unbound, a college working to re-invent higher education for returning adult learners, where he also teaches in the prison education program. He consults with some of the leading national civic engagement organizations, including serving as a deliberative dialogue fellow for Campus Compact, a faculty consultant for AAC&U’s Institute for Experiential Learning and Engaged Dialogue, and an educator for the Constructive Dialogue Institute. He formerly served as a program officer at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, the inaugural director of the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute at Miami University in Ohio, and the director of Campus Compact’s national youth civic engagement initiative, Raise Your Voice. 

Nick is author of a number of books, articles, and reports on civic education, deliberative dialogue, youth civic engagement, and community-based learning. His publications include Why Community Matters: Connecting Education with Civic Life (SUNY Press) and several co-edited volumes, including Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education and Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement. He also published the free online guides: Practicing Democracy: A Toolkit for Educating Civic Professionals, along with the forthcoming Engaging Community: A Toolkit for Reciprocal Teaching and Learning Beyond the Campus (with AAC&U and Campus Compact).

He was awarded the Early Career Research Award from the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLLCE) in 2009 and was the 2022 recipient of the Innovation in Teaching Excellence Award from Providence College. He holds a master’s in public affairs and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota. 

Nick lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, Aleida. Together, they have a great passion for educating the next generation of democratic citizens, starting with their children, Maya and Noah.