What is Dialogues for Public Life?

Co-sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Center for Community Engagement & Learning, the UAA Ethics Center, and the UAA School of Social Work, Dialogues for Public Life was created when UAA was invited to participate as a member of a national learning exchange cohort with The Kettering Foundation.

Dialogues for Public Life (often simply referred to as Dialogues) currently has two priorities centered on building the capacity of the UAA campus and Alaska communities to engage in public dialogue and deliberation..

1. To provide training workshops on dialogue and deliberation, and
2. To support community partners who are interested in hosting an event. This assistance may take the form of consultation and/or event facilitation.

Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.

 -Thomas Ehrilch

How Can I Get Involved?

• Upcoming Events

   Stay Tuned!

• Past Trainings & Events

  Monday, December 4th, 2018 6:15-8:00 pm  How can we make Anchorage a more welcoming community? A free Open Space event where participants share their ideas and create their own sessions around the central question. Held at the BP Energy Center, 900 E Benson Blvd.

  Saturday, September 23, 2017  1:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Dialogues for Public Life & Project Campus Vote tables  
  Held at the front lawn of the Anchorage Museum, 625 C Street Anchorage, Alaska 99501 

  Friday, October 27, 2017  - Naming & Framing Social Issues Workshop
  An afternoon session at the Urban in Alaska Conference at Rasmuson Hall & Student Union, UAA 
  

  August 23, 2017 - Facilitating a Public Dialogue Workshop

   

  March 2017 - Facilitated Vision – Take It to Action event for the Conversations re: Girdwood Lecture Series

  Spring 2017 -  Social Work undergraduate students enrolled in SWK A331 facilitated two community forums, one for Bean’s Café and one for the Children’s Lunchbox

  November 2016 - Workshop on incorporating deliberation into social work courses at the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

  Spring 2016 - Consult with Anchorage Planning Department regarding community meetings

  February 2 2016  - Beginning Skills in Public Deliberation - Urban in Alaska Conference

  Spring 2015 - Social Work undergraduate students enrolled in SWK A331 facilitated two community forums, one for Covenant House Alaska and one for Identity, Inc.

  April 2015 - Dialogues for Public Life CESA students poster presentation at the CCEL Community Engagement Forum

  April 2015 -  Presentation on engaging students to build capacity in a new campus-based dialogue and deliberation program at the Continuums of Service Conference, Long Beach, CA.

  April 14 2015 -  "Over the Edge: When the Substances We Use Become a Problem "Students, faculty, and community members are invited to participate in this forum to discuss their priorities as well as the challenges in responding to substance abuse, with an eye for forward-thinking solutions.

  March 2015 - Presented with CESA students at Urban & Rural in Alaska: Community Engagement at UAA conference

  2014-2015AY - Trained a year-long cohort of Dialogues for Public Life CESA students in public deliberation

  November 5th 2014 - Community Forum - Over the Edge: When the Substances We Use Become a Problem

  November 7th 2014 World Café - Over the Edge: When the Substances We Use Become a Problem

  September 11th 2014 - Think Tank forum

Who is Dialogues for Public Life?

• Donna M. Aguiniga, PhD, MSW
  

  Donna M. Aguiniga, PhD, MSW
  Program Director

  My interest in public dialogue and deliberation stems from my belief that we all have an active role to play in developing a civil and just society. Community events that provide an opportunity to learn about others' perspectives can help bring us closer together and identify solutions to the difficult social issues that affect us all. Training from the Kettering Foundation provided a new perspective centered around public discourse and have enhanced the group facilitation skills that I used in my social work practice and teach in classes.

• Dr. Stephanie Bauer, PhD
  

  Dr. Stephanie Bauer, PhD
  Associate Director

  Dr. Bauer is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and the chair of the Department of Philosophy. She is also the interim director of UAA’s Ethics Center. Dr. Bauer teaches and researches issues in biomedical ethics, disaster ethics, and public deliberation. She received training in public deliberation from the Kettering Foundation from 2014-15 and founded UAA's Dialogues for Public life with Dr. Donna Aguiniga in 2014.  With Dr. Aguiniga, she has offered a number of trainings in deliberation techniques for both UAA and community members and facilitated deliberation events for municipal agencies and others in Anchorage. 

For questions or more information, please email uaa_dialogues@alaska.edu.