Organizers for St Joe’s annual Day of Dialogue have been hosting virtual open support sessions to answer questions about proposals for the 2023 Day of Dialogue, scheduled to take place on Feb. 15, 2023. The Day of Dialogue will be held both in-person and via Zoom for both campuses, and no classes will take place. 

The fourth annual Day of Dialogue will “build upon conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion taking place throughout the SJU community by providing practical and participatory sessions,” according to Janée N. Burkhalter, Ph.D., associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), professor of marketing and co-chair of Day of Dialogue 2023, who wrote in response to questions from The Hawk.

“[Our goal is] to have all members of the campus community participate in an engaging day of events about diversity, equity and inclusion through keynotes, action-oriented content sessions and interactive activities throughout the day,” Burkhalter said.

This year’s event will also mark the first time the University City community participates in the Day of Dialogue. 

The Day of Dialogue committee “really wants to focus on engaging with all the new students that are part of our community now,” said Kevin Hoban ’24, Day of Dialogue committee member.

There are multiple ways the planning committee will incorporate the UCity campus community into the Day of Dialogue, said Divya Balasubramaniam Ph.D., associate professor of economics and Day of Dialogue committee member, who  wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk.

“The 2023 DoD [Day of Dialogue] planning committee has a representation of faculty and staff colleagues on the UCity campus, and their input is valuable to plan the DoD event,” Balasubramaniam wrote. “I serve on the communications and outreach sub-committee. Our task group is currently reaching out to UCity networks/connections that could provide valuable input to create a strategic outreach plan. Specifically, we hope to connect with student organizations and clubs on the UCity campus for our outreach efforts.”

The overall goals of the Day of Dialogue committee “are staying consistent with fostering positive dialogue and also engaging as many students as possible,” according to Hoban. 

“Students should expect a wide variety of issues that they might not think encompass DEI issues in conversation, but actually do in a lot of ways,” Hoban said. “There’s so much that goes into diversity, equity and inclusion that people don’t realize, and our goal is to engage as many session facilitators as possible to expand that lens and talk about issues and a perspective that people might not think of.”

According to Day of Dialogue committee member Maddie DeMarco ’22, ’23, M.S., all in-person sessions will be held on Hawk Hill with the keynote speeches being screened on the UCity campus. 

DeMarco emphasized that there will still be shuttles operating the day of the event to ensure the whole campus community can participate.

“The shuttle schedule for the Day of Dialogue mimics the class schedule,” DeMarco said. “So the shuttle to get back and forth from both campuses is going to be the same and matches with the sessions, so it’ll be accessible to everyone.”

Students, faculty, staff and administrators interested in organizing a Day of Dialogue session, proposal submissions are currently open, and the deadline is Nov. 11. All members of the SJU community are welcome to participate. The organizing committee will host a support session via Zoom Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m.