NORTH ADAMS, MASS. —MCLA will hold its third annual Day of Dialogue, a campus-wide alternative day of education with suspended day classes, on Wednesday, Oct. 21. This year’s event will be virtual, and some events will be open to the public as well as the MCLA community.
This year's theme, “Creating Change Through Community: Action and Organizing,” encourages MCLA’s students, faculty, and staff to explore the many ways that community organizing can empower us to make change, here at MCLA and in all of the communities of which we are a part.
“Community organizing is the process of building collective power—particularly among those who have been marginalized—to make change, always with an eye toward creating a more just community and society for everyone,” said Dr. Christopher MacDonald-Dennis, MCLA’s chief diversity officer. “I am looking forward to a day of presentations, workshops, and discussions in which our community will look at the themes of action and organizing through an interdisciplinary lens.”
MCLA students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to present during the Day of Dialogue, with sessions that critically reflect on social identity in relation to organizing and acting for change; employing skills for effective dialogue; analyzing social identity in U.S. society; demonstrating the ability to empathize across and within social identity boundaries; identify and address group dynamics and processes that enhance or hinder community dialogue; and move from dialogue to action in order to create meaningful change.
Learn more at www.mcla.edu/mcla-in-the-community/events/conferences.
About MCLA:
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught
by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive
on every level of their lives. In nearly every way possible, the experience at MCLA
is designed to elevate our students as individuals, as leaders, communicators, fully
empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 125-year commitment
to public education we have fortified our commitment to equitable academic excellence.
For eight of the last 10 years, MCLA has been named a Top Ten College by U.S. News
and World Report. MCLA also appears on the organization’s list of top National Public
Liberal Arts Colleges, as well as on the top 50 schools in U.S. News’ Social Mobility
Ranking, which measures how well schools graduate students who receive Federal Pell
Grants.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu
