Sustained Dialogue Campus Network
November E-Newsletter
Hello, and welcome to the new SDCN e-newsletter! This letter is sent out to the SD family: all alumni, moderators, student leaders, participants, and supporters who help strengthen the network. We’ve made some changes to make this newsletter more personal, more accessible, and more closely tied to what’s going on at YOUR campus.
This issue:
I. October Updates and November Plans
II. Network News
III. SD Stats: The Network by the Numbers
IV. SDCN Program Director Applications
V. Volunteer Opportunities
I. October Updates and November Plans
October Updates
This month Clark and Tessa finished conducting Moderator Trainings across the country. Meanwhile, they published the Moderator Resource Books and distributed them to every school in the Network, Notre Dame’s SD went international in India, Dickinson College took SD to the radio, and some awesome mom’s stepped up to help the high school programs. Read on . . . it’s been an exciting month.
Where We’ve Been
October 1-2: SDCN Moderator Training in Princeton, NJ for Princeton University and The Lawrenceville School.
October 7-8: Tessa attended the Study Circles Resource Center National Conference in Northbrook, IL. Click here for highlights! http://www.studycircles.org/en/Article.335.aspx
October 14-16: SDCN Moderator Training in Granville, OH for Denison University.
October 25: SDCN Moderator Training in Princeton, NJ for Princeton High School
Join the SDCN e-newsletter production team.
Do you have experience or interest in producing e-newsletters?
If you do, we want your help!! Become part of our SDCN newsletter production team, and help us improve our bi-monthly e-letter. All creative thoughts and suggestions are welcome!!
COMING SOON!
- NEW SD Leader’s Manual
- NEW SDCN Promotional Brochures
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November Events
-Nov. 1st- Dec. 1st: Submit applications for 2006-2008 SDCN Program Director position by Dec. 1st
-November 14th: Launch new SDCN Website: Check out the new look of SDCN:
*Join the planning team for the SDCN Annual Conference to be held this spring at Princeton University
*NOTE TO ALL STUDENT LEADERS AND MODERATORS:
Please mail us your participant and moderator questionnaires:
e-mail: sdcampusnetwork@gmail.com
by post: Sustained Dialogue Campus Network
444 North Capitol St. NW, Suite #434
Washington, DC 20001
II. Network News
Here’s the deal: we want to make sure we’re talking to every school, all the time. So if you have ANY questions, concerns, feedback, or updates—let us know! Shoot us an e-mail or give us a call, and we’ll be talking to you soon!!
SDCampusNetwork@gmail.com
(202) 393-7643
Please mail us your participant and moderator questionnaires: e-mail: sdcampusnetwork@gmail.com by post: Sustained Dialogue Campus Network 444 North Capitol St. NW, Suite #434 Washington, DC 20001
SDCN Goes Abroad
Jess Stechmann, a student from Notre Dame has brought SD with her abroad to India! She is currently on an abroad program called ‘Semester Around the World’ and started a Sustained Dialogue at Sacred Heart College in Cochin, Southwest India with 5 students from Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s College and 6 Indian students. They are talking about gender discrimination, arranged marriages, and social expectations and standards. Meeting twice a week until the end of the semester, they hope to gain cultural insights and share their unique experiences.
Faculty et al
Students at Colorado College are working to start a faculty-staff-administrator-student leader SD group, sponsored by the CC Faculty Senate. Whew, can you say that three times fast?
Air Time
President William Durden of Dickinson College gets on the radio each semester to deliver a sort of “state of the Dickinson” address. Each time, he chooses two students to come on the air and share his time. This time around, he chose SD Leader Mara Waldhorn, who was able to spend an hour talking about her experience at Dickinson and, of course, Sustained Dialogue! Now, if we could only get NPR to follow suit...
Politics, Shmolitics?
SD at Dickinson is definitely getting their name out on campus. Professor of conflict resolution, Shalom Staub, is taking the moderators of Dickinson’s Red-Blue Dialogue Group to a conference in Rhode Island to share how they are using SD as a method to work out political angst on a college campus.
SD…R?….N
The Campus Network is taking on a Regional Identity! Students at Princeton University, Princeton High School, and the Lawrenceville School—all located in or near Princeton, NJ—are coming together to form a regional network of students and faculty who are practicing SD! Many thanks to Princeton University who already stepped up and secured training space for the student moderators at Princeton High School! Congrats to the first ever Sustained Dialogue Regional Network.
SDSP: SD Service Projects
(As if we didn’t already have enough acronyms…)
Leaders of SD at the University of Virginia are teaming up with AHIP—the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program—to implement service projects as part of each SD groups’ semester plans. Think your group is tough? Try building/renovating/remodeling a house together. Follow their example—service projects are a GREAT way to facilitate group cohesion, because as we all know, the group that sweats together stays together.
College = No Parents! High School = Great Parents!
Efforts to bring Sustained Dialogue to two public high schools have met with great success due in large part to the amazing support we have seen from two parents—Lynn Shell at Princeton High School and Diane Hagen at Stevenson. Lynn and Diane have given so much of their time to this initiative, and we would like to send a big thank you to them from the campus network for all of their very hard work. Take note SDers—parental support can mean great things for your program, too!
PARTY!!!!
Students at the
University of Virginia are getting ready to host Mix It Up, a party they try and have each semester. “Mix It Up” is a party like no other, where students from all different social spheres are invited to have a good time—together, for a change. Hosted by AEPi, the music starts on November 11th.
III. SD Stats: The Network by the Numbers
Everyone has dedicated a generous amount of time to make SD happen at each school. Now that training season is over, we’ve counted up the numbers. Here’s a look at SD by the numbers since August:
Estimated Totals:
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Total number of dialogue groups
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37
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Total Number of Trained Moderators
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Over 85
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Number of Participants
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More than 460
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Hours of Sustained Dialogue Nationwide
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888
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Man-Hours of Moderating
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1776
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Hours of Moderator Training
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100
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Miles traveled for training
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7,227
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Miles traveled by Dr. Saunders in just one
month (china, istanbul, usa)
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25,988
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Program Director Applications Received
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Deadline is Dec. 1st!!!
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IV. SDCN Program Director Applications
Believe it or not, its that time again! We’re now taking applications for the next SDCN Program Director! As one of the two SDCN PDs, you will work closely for a year with Tessa Garcia, current PD, before helping choose her successor. Take advantage of a great opportunity to build valuable skills and contacts that will help you in every facet of your life! SDCN PDs are responsible for trainings, program initiation, program maintenance, the annual conference, and more!
See the official announcement
HERE
V. SDCN VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Kick-off Travel Teams. Be a part of a 3-4 member SD Kick-Off team and travel to other SD campuses across the nation to support new schools start Sustained Dialogue. Meet students from other campuses that are also engaged in Sustained Dialogue and concerned with the same issues you are! Speak about your experiences with Sustained Dialogue at a retreat. Encourage and motivate new SD participants and leaders!
Moderator Trainer. Become a moderator trainer for Sustained Dialogue! We are currently developing a volunteer training core to assist with moderator training. Learn how to be a skilled moderator trainer to train new moderators at your own school, as well as others!
Internships. Apply to be a fall, spring, or summer intern at the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue based in Washington D.C. IISD interns get valuable experience and hands-on work communicating with students, contacting new schools, developing materials, gaining technical skills, and much more!! Both paid and unpaid internships available.
Website Master. Do you have web design and maintenance skills? Be the SDCN webmaster!
Email sdcampusnetwork@gmail.com if you are interested.
Please email Clark and Tessa at sdcampusnetwork@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or inquiries!
(If for any reason, you would like to be taken off this list, please only email sdcampusnetwork@gmail.com with your request, please DO NOT hit reply all to this email!!)
