Words of Engagement Intergroup Dialogue Program (WEIDP)
The Words of Engagement Intergroup Dialogue Program (WEIDP) is a for-credit course that brings together students from different social backgrounds to engage in open and honest conversations about viewpoints and cultural backgrounds and their impacts on engaging across difference.
WEIDP supports participants in exploring key questions about who we are, what we know about each other, and how our culture and experiences influence our lives and relationships. The program prepares students to navigate an increasingly diverse society through relationship-building across difference.
WEIDP courses count towards the Cultural Competence Requirement. Courses are typically 1-credit dialogues that occur in the second half of the fall and spring semesters. Each dialogue is themed and is co-facilitated by trained intergroup dialogue facilitators.
Register for a Dialogue
Students can register for a dialogue course directly on Testudo. Each dialogue course consists of 3-4 themed sections. Once registered, we will ask the student to complete a profile that assists us in placing participants into a specific themed sections to allow for small-group engagement.
Our general undergraduate intergroup dialogue course is WEID139. ln addition to WEID139, intergroup dialogue courses are offered within particular disciplines or living-learning communities.
Become a Facilitator
An essential feature of the dialogue process are the skilled facilitators who support participants' learning and their overall experience. The WEIDP facilitation team consists of UMD staff, graduate students and professionals from the surrounding area. They are educators with knowledge of diverse social issues and cultural contexts.
While we do expect facilitators to join our program with some prior knowledge and passion for community, belonging and communicating across difference, facilitators receive training from the university's new Intergroup Dialogue Training Center housed in the College of Education. Faculty, staff and graduate students are able to train to become facilitators in a three-day training program in the summer or winter for the following semester.
Facilitators may be undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty or staff members. Occasionally alumni may return to facilitate a dialogue section as well.
Undergraduate students who have taken an intergroup dialogue course are able to enroll in WEID300 to become a facilitator for the next semester's dialogue. Student Affairs graduate students are able to facilitate WEIDP for their practicum experience.
Email your questions to dialogue@umd.edu.