Shenandoah Conversations

Shenandoah Conversations Testimonials

See what our students and faculty say about Shenandoah Conversations and Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD.

My first encounter with RSD was at an orientation gathering for the Faith Seeking Justice Christian Leadership Program. I was accepted into this program at the start of my freshman year so I was invited to a session where we would be discussing racism in faith communities. It just so happened that this gathering would be taking place before I had even moved in! At the time, I was terrified that I would be engaging in an uncomfortable topic of conversation with college students I had never met before. However we used RSD to engage in conversation and suddenly I found myself not to terrified but engaged, interested, and excited to join the conversation. What I liked the most was that I had time to reflect before I was asked to speak, and that I also had an option not to speak and that was perfectly acceptable. I felt at ease even though the topic was uncomfortable. Throughout my semesters here at SU I have used RSD quite often in classrooms and I really do believe that it is an effective way to engage in dialogue, so I became a fellow! I have seen first hand RSD’s ability to cultivate a space where even people with the most differing of opinions can find a place of understanding.” Meredith D. Webb ’21 | Resident Assistant, Parker Hall, Not Just Women’s Center Peer Mentor, Hornet Ambassador

Becoming a facilitator for Shenandoah Conversations changed my outlook on what it means to be an active listener. I always thought that being a good listener was one of my key strengths, but in training for RSD, I found that I what I thought was good listening was me finishing someone else’s thought for them. As a student, it’s hard to have classroom experiences that work on your listening ability, but I’m so thankful I have the chance to work on this skill in and educational setting before venturing into the professional world. I’ve found that the way I listen has dramatically changed, and I think it has helped me gain a great amount of trust and respect with my peers. Maya Bhatnagar ’22 | Theatre Design and Production major, FYS Mentor

Shenandoah Conversations has been an incredible outlet for me to be able to connect with other students across majors and disciplines. It can be hard to begin conversations with people who may have a differing point of view, but Reflective Structured Dialogue gives me a solid structure to begin these kinds of discussions. I think it really has given me the confidence to continue seeking out dialogues that may be uncomfortable but are incredibly important to be having.” Jenna Barricklo ’21

Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD) provides a framework for facilitating active listening, careful reflection, open consideration, and empathic acceptance and understanding among students as they learn to discuss and explore their own and others’ viewpoints on challenging/emotive topics.”

Bronwen Landless | Assistant Professor of Music Therapy

RSD asks students to draw on their own experience. This is revolutionary because academia often assumes that knowledge is objective and context doesn’t matter. RSD pauses for reflection. Spending a minute thinking about a question before responding to it might not feel revolutionary, but it allows students who wouldn’t otherwise join the conversation to consider what to say. RSD teaches students how to use their own experiences as data and to take their stories and themselves seriously.”

Meredith Minister | Assistant Professor of Religion

The most positive impact has been seeing my fellow faculty excited about teaching and seeing the way that students not only begin to know and like each other more but also begin to see each other as partners in learning.”

Kevin Minister | Assistant Professor of Religion

RSD has given me the confidence to feel like I can express my opinions, over often controversial topics, in a group of people that may not always agree with me. I also now feel like I have the skills to navigate conversations like this in the workplace, or whatever environment. It has taught me what it means to be a true active listener, and to always strive to understand where the other person is coming from.”

Jennifer Shoemaker ’21 | Nursing & Spanish double major

[RSD] facilitated a process where students were able to reflect more deeply on their values and perspectives. In that reflection, they were able to articulate these both orally in groups and in written form.”

Keith Jones Pomeroy | Assistant Director of Spiritual Life.

I think RSD definitely helps encourage better discourse, because of the underlying values/ethics of using RSD. Some of the most significant values that I perceived would be patience, vulnerability, intellectual humility and curiosity. To me, all of these values are considerably crucial when pursuing honest communication.”

Madeleine Bohnett ’20 | Music performance (violin) major

In the Express piece I really felt that the papers from students were more thoughtful, more reflective, and more cogently structured than if I simply gave them a topic to research and write about. I really believe that the reflective structured dialogue we did about controversies surrounding the commemorative landscape afforded students the opportunity to focus and think in a way that they could not have with a traditional paper assignment.”

Jonathan Noyalas ’01 | Assistant Professor of History and McCormick Civil War Center Director