About Renewing Our Civic Culture
Renewing Our Civic Culture is an initiative designed to demonstrate how respectful dialogue across differing perspectives can help to bridge divides, reduce affective polarization, and foster empathy. By encouraging deeper mutual understanding and highlighting common values and concerns, this effort aims to strengthen the fabric of our civic community. In collaboration with a range of campus and community partners, UWM’s Divisions of Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity (CEII) and Student Affairs (DSA) host speakers and events that enrich campus conversations and promote inclusive engagement.
“At the Table” Dialogues and Facilitation Training
Funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Institute of Citizenship and Civil Dialogue (WICCD), At the Table is a program intended to promote civil dialogue at UWM and build facilitation skills among students and instructors.
During the Spring 2026 semester, 6 undergraduate students and 6 faculty or instructional staff members will complete dialogue facilitation training in February. Each student will be paired with a faculty/staff member as their mentor, and each student-mentor pair will plan and lead a small group dialogue event at UWM during March or April. These dialogue events will be opportunities for members of the UWM community to gather over meals for meaningful conversation and respectful, open exchange.
Participant Responsibilities
- Attend dialogue facilitation trainings in February—an in-person training over lunch on Friday, Feb. 6, 11:30am–1:30pm; plus 2 more hours online later in the month.
- As a student-mentor pair, collaboratively plan a small group dialogue on a topic of your choice. Then facilitate this dialogue event for interested members of the UWM community to attend. We’ll provide logistical support as needed and funding for the meal.
- Attend a debriefing session at the end of the program and complete a final assessment survey.
What will you gain from participating?
All participants—whether students or faculty/staff mentors—will learn more about civil dialogue and how to communicate constructively across difference. You’ll build skills in facilitation, active listening, and inclusive leadership.
Faculty/staff mentors will each receive $1000 of S&E funding. Each participating student will be hired and paid $14 per hour for up to 75 hours (~5 hours/week during the semester, though some weeks will likely be fewer hours, some more).
Apply by January 9, 2026
Submit the online application form by Friday, January 9, 2026. Accepted applicants will be notified by Monday, January 19.
We welcome applications from instructors and students who already know they would like to work together in this project. We also welcome individual applications and will match students and mentors as needed. To ensure broad representation across campus, the selection process will prioritize disciplinary diversity and participation from multiple UWM schools and colleges.
If you have questions, please contact Vice Chancellor Chia Vang (vangcy@uwm.edu).
Civil Dialogue at UWM
Civil dialogue programming at UWM provides opportunities for students, staff and faculty to deepen understanding, refine their perspectives and build community across campus. In this video, hear from students and leaders who participated in the Spring 2025 Dinner Dialogues.
“The Virtues of Civil Discourse” Lecture
On October 17, 2025, we hosted a guest lecture by Dr. Jed Atkins, Dean of the School of Civic Life and Leadership at UNC-Chapel Hill. The lecture was followed by a meal with facilitated dialogue at each table. This event, free and open to the public, was made possible by a grant from the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.
In his talk, Dean Atkins explored how civic discourse—the practice of deliberating with others as fellow members of a shared community—can be taught and practiced on campus. Drawing from real-life stories in the classroom and beyond, he showed how higher education may equip students to live, learn, and listen as members of our pluralistic democracy.
Watch the recording below of Dean Atkins’ lecture.