Skip to main content

Dialogue Across Differences

A bold, schoolwide commitment to cultivating a culture of respect, curiosity, and courageous leadership
Paola Uccelli sharing dinner with students

At a moment when classrooms and communities increasingly reflect society's divisions, Dialogue Across Differences (DxD) affirms a simple but powerful truth: respect, dignity, and shared purpose do not emerge automatically — they are built through practice.

DxD equips the HGSE community with the skills, mindsets, and opportunities to engage constructively across differences in perspective, identity, and lived experience. The initiative supports HGSE's learning environment by strengthening the school's ability to hold disagreement in ways that are intellectually rigorous, emotionally grounded, and oriented toward understanding.

DxD is both a skill-building effort and a culture-building initiative. Over time, it aims to help HGSE become a place where disagreement is not avoided or escalated — but practiced with care, courage, and curiosity.

"Our charge as educators is to engage in dialogue such that differences are not a barrier to progress, but the very means by which it is made."  – Dean Nonie Lesaux

Calendar of Events

Talks, clinics, and other unique programming designed to build dialogue skills through practice. Note: Programming is open to those with HUID only.

Line drawing of students in conversation

The DxD Strategy

The DxD strategy is built on four interconnected pillars — the 4Es — to develop skills, mindsets, and tools across the HGSE community while fostering safe dialogue spaces and a culture of conversation that can serve as a model beyond campus. 

Ensuring members of the HGSE community are prepared with shared language and practical tools to engage differences constructively. This includes building the capacity to navigate disagreement, communicate across values, and remain grounded under pressure.

Creating consistent opportunities to practice constructive dialogue across differences — both inside and outside classrooms.

Ensuring dialogue across differences becomes part of HGSE's culture — not just a set of isolated events. This requires visible norms, consistent communication, and systems that help sustain the work over time.

Positioning HGSE as a leader in advancing best practices for dialogue across differences in education systems nationally and globally.

DxD in Practice

Across classrooms, community gatherings, and student-led events, our students, faculty, and staff intentionally create spaces to listen, question, and connect across differences.