The Fetzer Institute (www.fetzer.org) will be sponsoring the Second Conference on Democracy in America, this December 1-4, 2005 in Colorado. The conference is co-sponsored by the Christian Coalition of America, Moveon.org and the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. Facilitators include Mark Gerzon, President, Mediators Foundation (Chief Facilitator, Bi-Partisan Congressional Retreats) and William Ury, Director, Global Negotiation Project, Harvard Law School (co-author, “Getting to Yes”). Three day facilitated dialogue among 20-24 leaders of national political/civil associations, 1/3 generally perceived left, 1/3 generally perceived right, 1/3 generally perceived unaligned. The purpose is to build bridges of trust, respect and communication among leaders of national political and civil associations from across the political spectrum by engaging in a facilitated dialogue about a) the values that unite us as Americans, b) how to expand upon the recent successful left-right-center cooperation in the area of civil liberties, privacy, and constitutional protections, and c) other areas of potential left-right-center cooperation. For more information on this initiative, visit www.democracycampaign.org

We just heard from Len and Libby Traubman about their recent involvement in two exciting dialogue initiatives. In Summer, 2005, at the most northern tip of South Korea — near the inter-Korean border — ten Israeli students from Hebrew and Tel Aviv Universities and ten Palestinian students from Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities met. They were joined by ten Korean university students. Read about this meeting in the Korea Times Correspondent (in English): times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200509/kt2005090420155811690. And in California 140 Arabs and Jews met to discover their commonalities at the very successful Camp Tawonga. Read all about it at traubman.igc.org/camp2005 (click on the links at the top of the page to see media coverage).

On September 22nd, 2005, Senator Mark Dayton (D-MN) introduced the Department of Peace legislation into the U.S. Senate (Bill # S. 1756), calling for an elevation of the Reagan-established “Institute of Peace” to a Cabinet-level position. Speaking from the Senate floor, Dayton said, “If we are to remain the world’s leader, and if we are to lead the world into a more secure and more prosperous future, we must become better known and more respected for our peacemaking successes than for our military forces. Peace, to have any lasting value, must be advanced, expanded and strengthened continuously. Doing so requires skill, dedication, persistence, resources, and, most importantly, people.” To take action to support this initiative, consider calling and/or writing your senators, urging them to support this initiative (bill # is S. 1756). Contact your Senator at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit //www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Senator to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your Senator’s position and the reasoning behind it. To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson. www.thepeacealliance.org/action. It’s most effective if you call first, then follow-up with a fax or email.

The K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award recognizes graduate students who are committed to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others, and who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education. The awards are sponsored by K. Patricia Cross, Professor Emerita of Higher Education at the University of California-Berkeley. All doctoral level graduate students who are planning a career in higher education are eligible, regardless of academic department. The K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards provide financial support for graduate students to attend AAC&U�s 2006 Annual Meeting, �Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment.� The meeting will be held January 25-28, 2006, in Washington, DC. All award recipients are required to attend the conference.

Applicants must demonstrate: 1) Leadership ability or potential for exercising leadership in teaching and learning, with a strong commitment to academic and civic responsibility; and 2) Leadership or potential leadership in the development of others as leaders, scholars, and citizens. A faculty member or administrator must nominate the student, with a supporting letter from a second faculty member or administrator. The following materials must be submitted for an application to be considered: 1) a nomination letter from a faculty member or administrator; 2) a supporting letter from a second faculty member or administrator; 3) a statement from the student indicating how he or she meets the award criteria; 4) a copy of the student�s curriculum vitae. All materials should be submitted together. Only complete applications will be considered. Deadline for receipt of materials is November 4, 2005. Mail applications to the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Committee, AAC&U, 1818 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 or Fax 202-265-9532 (to the attention of Suzanne Hyers) or email (with documents attached).

A few days ago, we blogged about the Peace Alliance campaign to establish a U.S. Department of Peace. We just got an update with some great news. At a meeting with Peace Alliance youth leaders in D.C., Senator Mark Dayton from Minnesota agreed to help “move this forward” on behalf of our children. It is a huge milestone in the campaign and for the future of this legislation to have a member of the Senate to express such interest. The Peace Alliance is asking for everyone’s support to help us keep up this momentum with Senator Dayton. Call Senator Dayton’s office today at 202-224-3244 and thank him for his interest and support on behalf of our children. The Peace Alliance is also encouraging children to call their Senators and Representative to ask them to support a Dept of Peace. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 224-3121. You can find your representatives at: www.vote-smart.org. The new bill number in the House of Representatives is HB 3760. On the House side, the bill already has three new co-sponsors and much interest from others. This is great news!

By the People (www.pbs.org/newshour/btp) has just announced grant awards to the community groups and PBS stations in sixteen cities across the country that will convene Citizen Dialogues and produce companion television programming during Deliberation Week, October 22-29, 2005. Through these events, they anticipate more than 1,000 citizens nationwide will join in a common deliberation about one of two critically important issues before the nation: healthcare and education. The discussions, which will be national and local in scope, will reach an even larger audience when they are featured in a national PBS broadcast airing on November 10, 2005, at 9:00pm ET. To read a list of participating groups and stations, click on the link below.

By The People is also organizing a number of other participation venues. Five community colleges around the country will engage their students and local communities in dialogues on healthcare and education during Deliberation Week and throughout the fall. Topics for discussion include healthcare for the uninsured, hospital personnel shortages, education ethics, and teaching challenges in a diverse classroom. (To read a list of participating colleges, click on the link below). And more than 300 citizens will participate in a national online conversation about By the People�s Deliberation Week issues– healthcare and education– in September and October 2005. A representative sample of citizens nationwide will participate in weekly small group discussions to become more informed. The resulting shifts of opinion will reveal what these participants think about healthcare and education as they learn more about these issues. The experiment will be conducted for By the People by the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy and Polimetrix. The online process will mirror face-to-face conversations taking place during Deliberation Week. The online deliberators, who will be a national representative sample, will meet online in small groups and participate in discussions conducted through voice rather than text. Results of the online Deliberative Opinion Poll� will be available on the By the People website in November.
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Many of you may have seen our previous blog announcement about Juanita Brown’s new book The World Cafe: Shaping Our Lives Through Conversations That Matter, co-written with David Isaacs. We have just heard from Juanita that the first edition of the book has received a tremendous response and that they are very very busy talking about the World Cafe to many different groups. To give you more insight into the book, we’re posting a recent review of The World Cafe by NCDD member and friend Tom Atlee. To read Tom’s review, click on the link below.
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On September 14th, 2005, legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace will be re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for reducing violence in our country and around world, including nonviolent communication skills, conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building. Learn more at The Peace Alliance website: www.ThePeaceAlliance.org

If you support this action, contact your member of Congress on, right before or after, Wednesday, September 14th. Contact your Representative at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your member’s position and the reasoning behind it. (You can call your local office as well.) It is most effective if you call the D.C. office first, then follow-up with a fax or email.To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson. www.thepeacealliance.org/action

In the wake of the recent devastation in the South, our friend and colleague Tom Atlee put together a list of resources for everyone to keep talking, thinking and taking action to help those affected. Below, you will find a list of websites and resources summarizing the event, tools for opening up discussion and places to make donations. Please share this list widely.
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This Oct. 7-8, the Study Circles Resource Center conference will take place in Northbrook, IL (a suburb of Chicago). NCDD wil be there hosting a pre-conference workshop with the Deliberative Democracy Consortium about navigating and choosing among different models of dialogue and deliberation. You can sign up for pre-conference training and plan your conference workshops by visiting the conference website www.studycircles.org/scrcconference. Early registration is open until Sept. 14, and discount hotel rooms will be available until Sept. 16, so register now! This year’s conference will feature open space lunches, where any participant can organize a discussion table around a challenge or issue that hasn’t been covered in the workshops. The conference will also feature a performance by the unforgettable National Playback Theatre. Visit the conference website for details.

IAP2 and the Kettering Foundation have embarked on a joint research project that will explore the question “What is the cultural context of public participation?” in four regions of the world. They are seeking interviewers for these regions. The possible regions are: Latin America, the United Kingdom/Western Europe, South Africa, Australasia or Southeast Asia.and for the one region that’s already been chosen, the United States/Canada, too. The identification of interviewers will in a large part drive selection of the remaining three regions chosen for this project. Interested individuals are asked to submit an expression of interest, with a sentence or two describing their capabilities/experience based on the criteria listed below. Copies of the project overview are available upon request. To read the criteria and contact information, click on the linnk below.
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The September Project is a grassroots effort to encourage public events on freedom, democracy, and citizenship in libraries on or around September 11. Libraries around the world are organizing public and campus events, such as displays about human rights and historical documents; talks and performances about freedom and cultural difference; and film screenings about issues that matter. Although primarily organized for September 11, events will take place all throughout the month of September. A list of events is available at: www.theseptemberproject.org/events.htm. To see a map of all the countries taking part, visit www.drizzle.com/%7Eklockner/cgi-bin/tsp/2005/map.cgi. And to read about the September Project in the Chronicle of Higher Education, visit here:chronicle.com/free/2005/09/2005090801t.htm.

We just received the latest Dynamic Facilitation Newsletter and thought we would post the contents for all our blog readers. This month’s letter contains news about Dynamic Facilitation & the Wisdom Council on Tour in Australia, a Calendar of Upcoming Events, an Invitation to Contribute and Wisdom Council Updates as well. To subscribe to the newsletter, email with “Subscribe” in the subject line. To read the news, click on the link below.
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There are still some Fulbright Scholar opportunities to lecture or conduct research abroad during the 2006-2007 academic year including awards in conflict resolution or peace studies in Korea, Nicaragua, Tunisia, Ukraine and Venezuela. Conflict Resolution is also a priority field for some “All Disciplines” awards for which applications continue to be accepted, for example in Bosnia, Cyprus, Georgia, and Guatemala. Awards for both faculty and professionals range from two months to an academic year. Foreign language skills are needed in some countries, but most Fulbright lecturing assignments are in English. U.S. citizenship is required for all awards; university teaching experience is required for all lecturing awards. For available awards, other eligibility requirements, and online application, visit the Fullbright Web site at www.cies.org. Some deadlines have passed, so consult the relevant program officer before applying.