"Maryland Students Step Out of Their Comfort Zones and into Authentic Community," written by Matt Hoffman, director of the Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Pluralism, was featured on November 10 in Interfaith America's online magazine.
In the article, Hoffman shared how UMBC is continuing to put interfaith work in action via an Advancing Pluralism grant from Interfaith America. "One of the core themes of this past year in The Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being at UMBC has been exploration and newness," explains Hoffman. "As the office rolled out two new programs, Bridge Builders and Interfaith Fellows, it was clear that encouraging students to go outside of their comfort zones could be one way to help shift campus culture and create community through authentic relationships."
The UMBC Bridge Builders Program is co-led by Dr. Ciara Christian, co-director of the Center for Social Justice Dialogue, and is a semester-long program focused on dialogue across differences, related to pressing global issues in religious/spiritual spaces, while the UMBC Interfaith Fellows Program is a stipended year-long fellowship program, with curricular (non-credit) and co-curricular experiences to develop student leaders committed to engaging across religious and spiritual traditions.
More recently, UMBC became one of just 10 universities nationwide to be invited to join the 2025-26 Advanced Campus Pluralism cohort, a collaboration between Interfaith America and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). UMBC has received $25K to create a strategic plan to develop practices that lead to deeper engagement across differences, and integrate practices into the university's work in inclusive excellence. It will include partnerships between the Divisions of Student Affairs and Institutional Equity, as well as the Provost's Office and Academic Affairs, with input from campus leadership and stakeholders.
Dialogue connects. Dialogue transforms. Join educators and practitioners across Maryland for an interactive symposium on advancing dialogue for belonging, community, and shared action.
We're pleased to invite students, faculty, staff, and community partners to the Dialogue Symposium: Bringing Campuses and Communities Together, hosted at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). This symposium is collaboratively planned by USM partner institutions - University of Maryland-Baltimore, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Maryland Global Campus, Towson University, and The Universities at Shady Grove.
SAVE THE DATE: January 29, 2026 | 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: University Center Ballroom, UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250
About the Symposium:
This full-day event is dedicated to advancing dialogue as a powerful approach for connection, inclusion, and collective action. Grounded in the work of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, this year's theme — "Dialogue as a Campus and Community Approach" — explores how institutions and community organizations can embed dialogic practices across curricular, co-curricular, and administrative spaces.
What You'll Experience:
Interactive sessions and hands-on workshops exploring facilitation, trauma-informed practices, and community connection.
Peer-led exchanges and an "Unconference" segment where participants co-create ideas and partnerships in real time.
A focus on tools for embedding dialogue into teaching, learning, engagement, and community collaboration.
Who Should Attend:
Whether you are faculty integrating dialogue into your courses, staff facilitating community or campus engagement, a student leader leading coalition building, or a community partner working across neighborhoods and beyond — this symposium is for you.
Want to Present?
The committee invites proposals from students, staff, faculty, and community partners. We invite proposals that will:
Build strategies for institutional leadership and resource alignment to sustain dialogue programs and initiatives.
Deepen facilitation and practitioner skills (with attention to trauma-informed practices & facilitator well-being).
Explore concrete tools and techniques for integrating dialogue into classrooms, curricula, departments and community engagement.
Co-create new directions for dialogue work that connects campuses and communities across the region.
Submit your proposal here: https: //umbc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b2fZiJ2jngIFWES
Registration & Next Steps:
Student attendance is free; other categories have nominal fees as outlined on the CSJD website: https://csjdialogue.umbc.edu/the-dialogue-symposium-bringing-colleges-and-communities-together/
Registration opens December 1, 2025.
Keep an eye out for the full program and registration link soon.
For questions, contact Chloe Kastner (ml82770@umbc.edu).
Join us in shaping a day of thoughtful connection, courageous conversation, and collective reflection as we build toward a more dialogue-rich, inclusive campus and community culture.
We look forward to seeing you on January 29!
What's New? You can now easily view and update your home address directly in My WorkView: Personal Information to ensure the highest accuracy of this critical information.
Action Required by December 23rd, 2025: All employees will be prompted to review and acknowledge that the home address on file is correct. If your home address needs to be updated, you can now do so in My WorkView.
Head over toMy WorkView: Personal Information today to verify or update your current home address!
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While their dreams are anchored in the societies they have left, their daily realities are defined by America – by the immediate challenges in their MIT classrooms, and by the larger social issues confronting the world beyond those classrooms. Their new environment demands they adapt. Over an intimate, decade-long journey spanning two continents, students and filmmaker alike are forced to decide how much of America to absorb, how much of Africa to hold on to, and how to reconcile teenage ideals with the truths they discover about the world and themselves."