Dialogue Minor Degree Program
• Annual Themes for CMNS 460:
The main project of each class is to plan, prepare for, and produce a public dialogue on an important issue. The themes chosen are shaped and defined by all members of the class:
2009 Debts and forgiveness
2008 Peak oil and our society
2007 Is climate change a climate for change?
2006 Afghanistan and Canada
• The Dialogue Minor:
What is the Dialogue Minor? Dialogue Brochure and checklist Dialogue Minor checklist
The Dialogue Minor offers a concentration of courses which enable students to focus on the conceptual framework, technique, and practice of creating, sustaining, and evaluating dialogue. It is open to students with interests in many disciplines, including communication. The program highlights the relationship of dialogue with public issues. Whether or not this relationship takes the form of cooperation, controversy, or confrontation, and whether or not there are already visible forms of negotiation around public issues, the role and effect of dialogue will be thoroughly explored.
• Special Circumstances:
The Dialogue Minor will expose students to events in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, enabling them to contribute to the Centre’s work while learning from its experience [www.sfu.ca/dialogue]. Applicants to the ‘Semester in Dialogue’ will be encouraged to consider the Dialogue Minor program. The Dialogue Minor and Dialogue Semester students will be encouraged to form a cohort by inviting them to participate in special common events. Courses listed here have a strong international character, emphasize writing and oral presentation, and have a broad multi-disciplinary character.
• Why complete the Minor in Dialogue?
Emphasis is on dialogue as an approach to difficult public issues. The levels of analysis range from local to global; for example, how are dialogue and climate change related on all levels? Knowing techniques for these approaches, and understanding these levels of analysis, puts you in a strong position to participate in the process in your work and/or to continue with higher studies in related fields. The demand for people prepared and trained for dialogue is increasing internationally or regionally, especially in situations where negotiation for conflict resolution or management is in difficulty.
• How do I get Admitted?
- Courses will be open to students from all faculties who have completed 50 credit hours, and who have a CGPA of 3.0.
- Declaration of a commitment to the Dialogue Minor may occur prior to taking any of the listed courses, when enrolling in one of the listed courses in Communication, or at the entry to, or completion of, the Dialogue Semester.
- Students registered in the Dialogue Minor will be exempt from pre-requisites if they are not Communication majors. Waiver of the pre-requisites will be managed by the School of Communication.
- Enrollments generally will be limited to about 25 students per course, or such other limits as the School may set from time to time.
- Students should consult with their major Department prior to their first Dialogue course to determine the application of DIAL credits to fulfill major, non-Dialogue minor, or elective course requirements. Students’ enquiries about the Dialogue Minor itself would be addressed to the School of Communication.
- Normally students will complete CMNS/DIAL 460 after completion of the Semester in Dialogue, or after completion of at least two of the three other listed CMNS courses in the Dialogue Minor list (see below). Normally CMNS/DIAL 461 is available to students to students who have completed CMNS/DIAL 460.
• Continuation in the Dialogue Minor program:
A CGPA of 2.75 is required to remain in good standing in the program. Students who do not maintain this requirement may be dropped from the program but may re-apply for re-admission at a later date.
• Two paths to completion of a Dialogue Minor:
PATH A – Completing the 15-credit Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue,
plus CMNS/DIAL 460 [4] total of 19 credits.
PATH B – Completing three courses from:
- CMNS 332-4 Communication and Rhetoric (McCarron)
- CMNS 347-4 Communication in Conflict and Intervention (Anderson)
- CMNS 425-4 Applied Communication for Social Issues (Laba)
- CMNS 432-4 Public Opinion, Propaganda, and Political Communication (Murray)
- CMNS 437-4 Media democratization: from critique to transformation (Hackett)
- CMNS 447-4 Negotiation and Dialogue as Communication (Anderson)
plus CMNS/DIAL 460 [4] plus CMNS/DIAL 461 [3] total of 19 credits.
• Completion Requirements:
Students may be awarded the Dialogue Minor if they complete nineteen credits in the two paths of the prescribed program. A CGPA of not less than 2.75 is required for graduation.
• What is the required CMNS/DIAL course?
CMNS/DIAL 460-4. Seminar in Dialogue and Public Issues.
This seminar course is intended for all Minor in Dialogue students. If space is available non-Minor students may be accommodated. This course focuses on concepts, practical tools and strategies used in dialogue, comparing the role and impact of dialogue when employed by corporate, government, legal, regulatory, community, political, First Nations, union, and advocacy groups. Emphasis will be on the nature and dynamics of interactions among multiple stakeholders, cultures of negotiation and decision-making, techniques for facilitation, and the development of perspectives, tools, and strategies for effective dialogue.
This seminar course will normally be taken after the Semester in Dialogue or after two of the three listed CMNS courses (see below). Attendance at a number of dialogue events may be required during this course, particularly in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue. These are to include a mix of lectures, public events, and other venues approved in advance by the program Director and Instructor(s). Students will assist with, analyze and evaluate these dialogues, and will write/create public communication projects ready for public media. Events will be added as each semester proceeds, so that students need to maintain a somewhat flexible schedule outside class time.
• CMNS/DIAL 461-3 Field Placement:
Students work under faculty supervision in a field placement situation related to dialogue and negotiation. This course may normally be taken only after completion of CMNS/DIAL 460 and with consent of the instructor. This course is a requirement only in Path B above, but Path A students may enroll with the consent of the instructor, if suitable arrangements can be made for placement. Arrangements for both field placement and faculty supervision are the responsibility of the student, and enrollment will depend on the availability of faculty resources in any semester.
• Recent and Past Students:
Coming soon.
• For more information:
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby
778-782-3687 phone; 778-782-4024 fax
www.cmns.sfu.ca
Student Advisors:
Lucie Menkveld
menkveld@sfu.ca
778-782-7687
Neena Shahani
neena@sfu.ca
778-782-3520