IDP works to engage the entire Cornell community. We collaborate with many departments, programs, and student organizations to develop and deliver offerings ranging from three-hour introductory experiences to intensive semester-long courses. These intimate, peer-facilitated sessions address topics of identity and communication while providing participants with the skills to engage in productive conflict and create new shared meanings. At this time, IDP has regular offerings for undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, postdoctoral scholars, staff and faculty, and occasionally alumni. IDP’s podcast, “I” Statements, is one of our current offerings to our extended community.
IDP Courses & Offerings
Undergraduate Students
Community at Cornell
A mandatory 2-part program that all incoming undergraduate students must complete in their first year. Participants are introduced to skills and tools for communicating across difference both inside and outside the classroom.
UNILWYL 1510: Living and Learning Across Difference
A 1-credit, 7-week 2 course for students to have intentional and thoughtful conversations about how their social identities and backgrounds impact their day-to-day life in the Cornell community. Each week, we will focus on a topic of relevance to the student experience that also opens up questions about identity and power.
EDUC 2610: Intergroup Dialogue
A 3-credit, peer-facilitated course that prepares students to live and work in a diverse world, and educates them in making choices that advance equity. Intergroup dialogue is a form of communication specifically designed for people to engage with one another across social, cultural, and power differences in a critical and meaningful way.
ILRID 4675: Inclusive Leadership
A 7-week 2, 2-credit course that seeks to galvanize leadership education by putting traditional leadership scholarship in conversation with the writings of activists and humanistic scholars. Through this juxtaposition, we will explore and examine our preconceived notions of “leadership,” “diversity,” and “inclusion.”
EDUC 4826: Leading Dialogue Across Difference
A 4-credit course that students take while co-facilitating one section of EDUC 2610 (Intergroup Dialogue). Through theoretical and experiential learning, students in EDUC 4826 will further develop knowledge and skills gained in EDUC 2610 for leadership and facilitation across social, cultural, and political differences.
Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students
Intergroup Dialogue for Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Scholars
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are required to communicate and work across cultural, social, and power differences on a daily basis. They interact with mentors, colleagues, undergraduate students, and professors in a variety of academic settings, and need to navigate different spaces, ways of thought, and academic practice. This program provides a space for a group to come together to connect in a deep and personal way across differences through activities designed to stimulate critical reflection of social identities and power dynamics in society.
NBA 6870: Leading Across Differences: Understanding Identity, Dialogue, and Influence
As a leader in any organizational context, your ability to collaborate with a broad cross section of colleagues is a key driver of individual influence and collective success. This course will provide students with an opportunity to: explore how their own social identities shape their professional choices and leadership style, build capability to have meaningful dialogue and effective collaboration across social, cultural and power differences, and explore the power of alliances and allies when seeking to create an inclusive team/organizational environment.
Advising Across Difference: Academic Advisors Course
A year-long course for a group of academic advisors to explore how social identities inform advising and mentoring processes; practice tools for leading and communicating across difference; strengthen their capacity to develop effective collaborations; and build a professional network of academic advisors interested in enacting systemic change past the completion of this course.
Building Connections with Dialogue: Academic Staff & Faculty Program
This program is designed for academic staff and faculty to develop skills for dialogue; deepen understanding of how social identities influence academic relationships; and explore ways to integrate dialogue into academic life. Through sustained engagement with a cohort and with core practices of intergroup dialogue, participants experience group learning as well as meaningful self-reflection and individual skill development.
Workshop Program
IDP collaborates with units, departments, and faculty to develop offerings customized to your group’s needs. Through experiential learning exercises and authentic dialogue, participants gain practical skills for making their living and working spaces more inclusive environments.
IDP Podcast
“I” Statements
A podcast where complexity, vulnerability, and curiosity collide. In each episode people with different identities come together to share their own beliefs, experiences, and perspectives, demonstrating the power and possibility inherent in communicating across difference.