Project Director: Dr. Natalie Dollar, Newberry Hall 110
541-322-3140, ndollar@osucascades.edu

Project Overview

The Community Dialogue Project (CDP) was initiated March 2003. The goals of the project are: (1) to study dialogue as a means of building community across a variety of contexts, and (2) to provide Central Oregonians with resources and educational opportunities to explore dialogue as a way of being and interacting with others.  

Dialogue is a temporary accomplishment, a communication quality and space difficult to sustain. Most USAmericans rely on argument, debate, negotiation, and discussion when interacting with others, communication means we have learned through our social networks and educational system. Nevertheless, the antagonistic, tensional nature of these ways of communicating have left us wanting more.

Fortunately for us, practitioners and scholars have rediscovered dialogue and are exploring our ability to engage dialogue as an alternative way of interacting (Anderson, Baxter & Cissna, 2004; Barge & Little, 2001; Kellet & Dalton, 2001; Pearce & Littlejohn, 1997; Saunders, 1999).

In its current form the project includes classes that can be taken for credit toward an undergraduate degree, free community workshops, community and scholarly presentations, and scholarly research.

If you are interested in bringing dialogue into your community group or organization, please contact Dr. Natalie Dollar, Project Director, ndollar@osucascades.edu

Community Dialogue Workshop Series (CDW)

Since March 2003 Dr. Natalie Dollar has offered community dialogue workshop series focusing on significant community issues. The initial workshop, War and Peace: A Dialogue, addressed student and community concerns about the Iraq War. The second workshop, The Dynamics of Democracy, focused on various aspects of democracy as experienced in our community. The third workshop, Is Our Community Divided? What are the Issues?, allowed participants to define their weekly dialogue topics, meaningful yet contested community issues. Our fourth workshop concentrated on Exploring Social Class in our community and our fifth workshop, spring 2008, on What are the religious, scientific, and spiritual views of the origin of our world?

The workshops are unique in that participants include credit-seeking students, community members and a diverse range of OSU-Cascades faculty. The workshops are free for community members and non-credit-seeking students. Relationship development and raised awareness about the benefits of teaching others about dialogue--community dialogue, interpersonal dialogue, and intercultural dialogue--are typical participant outcomes.

The workshops provide a safe, structured environment for learning about dialogue as a means of exploring a contested community issues is facilitated by Dr. Dollar and students enrolled in COMM 408: Community Dialogue Workshop and COMM 418: Interpersonal Communication Theory and Research.  Prior to the workshop series, these students complete 6 weeks of reading, discussing, and engaging community dialogue theory and training.

Workshop participants include non-credit seeking community members and OSU-Cascades credit-seeking students.

2010 Community Dialogue Workshop

We have decided to host a series of workshops on the topic:  What is OSU-Cascades?

Students enrolled in COMM 408: Community Dialogue Workshop will invite members of our community to participate in the workshops.

Working schedule and participants

Workshop 1: OSU-Cascades students (OSU & UO) and COCC students

Workshop 2: OSU-Cascades students and Cascades Adminstrators, Faculty & Staff

Workshop 3: OSU-Cascades alumni and local high school students & their parent/guardian

Community Dialogue Research Program

In collaboration with students and community members, Dr. Natalie Dollar has collected data across the Annual Community Dialogue Workshop Series, at student-initiated dialogue sites beyond the campus setting, and in community groups and organizations. Some examples of the emerging scholarship include:

• Dollar, N.J. (May 5, 2010). Bringing civility back.  Upcoming OSU-Cascades Lunchtime Lecture Series.  I will discuss the gradual demise of civil conversation, with the goal of promoting true dialogue, particularly in civic involvement.

• Dollar, N.J. (January 9, 2008). Creating non-polarized scences for engaging contested topics. Presented at the annual OSU-Cascades Lunchtime Lecture Series.

• Dollar, N.J. (2007, February). Community dialogue workshop as civil society: "Getting below the sound bite" to the betwixt and between. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association, Language and Social Interaction Division.

• Dollar, N.J, Hopp, S., Edwards, M.L., & Becraft, D. (2005, April). Bridging the communication gap: Dialogue, the campus, and the local community. Presented at the Continuums of Service Annual Conference.
  • M.L. Edwards (student), D. Becraft (community member)