Dialogue Facilitation Certification
A Program for Faculty and Campus Staff
The Dialogue Facilitation Certification is a 16-hour, practice-based credentialing program that prepares faculty and staff to confidently plan and facilitate constructive dialogue in higher education settings.
Designed for student-facing professionals, the program builds advanced skills in guiding conversations across differences, managing tension, and sustaining inquiry during complex or controversial moments. Grounded in CDI’s evidence-based, nonpartisan framework, this certification emphasizes hands-on practice, structured feedback, and real-world application.
Participants leave with a recognized credential and the skills to lead dialogue in classrooms, residence halls, student organizations, and campus-wide initiatives.
A rigorous, practice-based facilitation credential
An evidence-based professional development experience grounded in behavioral science
Focused on real-world campus application
Program Format
The Dialogue Facilitation Certification is offered as an interactive professional development program for faculty and staff.
- Length: 16 hours; session runs from 11AM - 4PM ET once a week over the course of 4 weeks
- Format: Live, instructor-led via Zoom
- Delivery: Offered as open-enrollment or private campus workshops
The program combines research insights, structured dialogue practice, and applied facilitation techniques.
You Should Attend This Program if You Are
- Student-facing staff (Residence Life, Student Affairs, Advising)
- Faculty facilitating difficult classroom conversations
- Dialogue program directors or campus initiative leads
- Institutions building internal facilitation capacity
Concepts Covered
Cultivating presence, neutrality, and intentionality to guide dialogue while holding space for multiple perspectives.
Common Use Cases
- Launching a campus-wide dialogue initiative
- Building a trained facilitator cohort
- Preparing staff to navigate polarization or campus tensions
- Embedding dialogue practices into curriculum and co-curricular life
- Scaling dialogue capacity beyond one central office
By the end of this program, participants will:
- Define and articulate the purpose and responsibilities of a dialogue facilitator
- Design and plan a structured constructive dialogue experience
- Facilitate conversations across differences using evidence-based techniques
- Apply conflict navigation tools to manage tense or controversial moments
- Demonstrate facilitation competency through observed practice
The program was excellent, and the facilitators were top notch. This is the best training program I have experienced, both in substance and process.
I love how much territory we covered and I feel quite a bit more comfortable at the idea of facilitating a more challenging group conversation.
Engaging in 1:1 practice really pushed me out of my comfort zone to actually use the skills and strategies and feel confident in facilitating dialogue.
The program was excellent, and the facilitators were top notch. This is the best training program I have experienced, both in substance and process.
I love how much territory we covered and I feel quite a bit more comfortable at the idea of facilitating a more challenging group conversation.
Engaging in 1:1 practice really pushed me out of my comfort zone to actually use the skills and strategies and feel confident in facilitating dialogue.
