The UAA/APU "Encountering" Controversy project addresses the increasing polarization of our society and the need for university faculty to deal more effectively with breakdowns in civil discourse. It seeks to find a middle ground between voices that are so forceful that they overrun the complexities of other people, cultures, or traditions and voices that are too seldom heard because of personal or cultural inclination or because they have been intimidated into silence. The overall goal is to improve the learning climate on our campuses, making them more inclusive of minority voices and ways of knowing and safer places for learning and the free exchange of ideas.
"Encountering Controversy" is one of 26 projects selected for funding by the Ford Foundation’s nation-wide Difficult Dialogues initiative. It was created in partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and Alaska Pacific University (APU).
Two week-long faculty intensives will be held in May 2006 to train a cadre of faculty leaders in enhanced skills for encountering controversy in the classroom. The program will introduce faculty to a variety of approaches for fostering constructive dialogues. Faculty participants are expected to apply one or more of these strategies in the classroom and in other university events during the 2006-07 academic year.
Two books will also be selected as Books of the Semester for the Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 semesters. UAA and APU will hold a series of conversations, inside and outside of the classroom, on topics raised by the books.
See the links for "Faculty Fellows" and "Book of the Semester" for additional information.
