USF FORWARD Initiative
In 2024-25, the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice (INSJ) and the Office of the Provost launched the campus-wide USF FORWARD (Finding Our Way to Respectful Dialogue) Initiative to support USF students, faculty, staff and librarians in their efforts to promote meaningful dialogue and engage in productive conversations addressing sensitive and contentious issues.
Our FORWARD Initiative responds to widely shared concerns that interpersonal conversations between USF community members (students, faculty and staff) would benefit from greater openness, tolerance, and honest exchange of opinions and feelings, without fear, anxiety or self-censorship. The initiative seeks to support the kind of meaningful and honest conversations many wish to pursue, rooted in active listening that enables spaciousness and communicates mutual respect, makes it possible for all of us to more effectively address difficult subjects that we might otherwise avoid, and reduce tensions that might otherwise sustain discomfort, and resolve problems that might otherwise linger.
For resources supporting compassionate and respectful dialogue, see here.
Winter/Spring 2025 Difficult Conversations Workshop
Pursuant to the FORWARD Initiative, INSJ will convene a Spring Semester workshop for interested faculty, staff, and librarians with three late afternoon sessions held in person on campus during the semester. The workshop will include reading and discussing Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen (Penguin, Third Edition, 2023) as a reference for addressing challenges to communication and mutual understanding that workshop participants might be facing in their relationships on campus. We will create a confidential setting to safely and creatively explore together how the ”Difficult Conversations” approach might provide a useful model for engaging these challenges going forward. Jonathan Greenberg, Director of the USF Institute will facilitate each session along with guest partners in the conflict resolution field.
Because we anticipate that there will be interested faculty, staff, and librarians who will not be able to commit to the full workshop, we will hold a one-time Zoom session in April to discuss Difficult Conversations and its application to our relationships at USF.
Register Here for the 3-session on-campus workshop or the 1-session Zoom discussion.
USF FORWARD Initiative Advisory Committee
Director of the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice
Program Manager, Clinical Psychology Doctorate
Associate Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students
Associate Dean of Sciences & Engineering
Associate Professor, Co-Director of the Tracy Seeley Center for Teaching Excellence
Associate Vice Provost for Antiracism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Professor of Politics, Chair of the Politics Department
Associate Dean for Social Sciences
Professor, Co-Director of the Tracy Seeley Center for Teaching Excellence