TDI is a national network of multidisciplinary scholars, campus leaders, and civic leaders in the fields of democratic dialogue, public deliberation, and democracy-building.


Our mission is to strengthen public life and advance deliberative democracy in and through higher education.


Upcoming Events

Pre-Conference Workshop at AAC&U
Please join TDI in creating a community of practice connecting diversity with deliberative democracy at AAC&U's conference in Long Beach. More »

TDI Pre-Conference Workshop
TDI will be convening a day long pre-conference workshop at the National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation in Austin, TX. Learn more and register today, "Deliberative Democracy and Higher Education: A Workshop on Innovative Democratic Education and Leadership."

TDI Workshop on Inclusive Excellence
TDI will be convening two pre-conference workshops on Oct. 16 (2-5 pm) at AAC&U's national conference on Diversity, Learning & Inclusive Excellence. To learn more about the conference & the TDI workshop (see #s 1 & 2), click here.

2009 TDI National Conference
Save the date! TDI will be hosting a national conference at the University of New Hampshire from July 9-11, 2009. Wonderful time of year to visit New Hampshire, so bring the family and make a vacation out of it. More details coming soon.

Make a Note of This

New John Gastil Book!
Prof. John Gastil has written a new book, Political Communication and Deliberation, and has developed a companion instructor website to assist other professors in using this new text in their courses. More »

New Kettering Foundation Book
Deliberation & the Work of Higher Education, describes how deliberative dialogue - in both the classroom and on campus - can promote learning and problem solving. More »

Civic Engagement at the Center
AAC&U recently released this new monograph which highlights developmental models for students' civic learning and socially responsible leadership implemented at 77 campuses. More »

Democratic Theory & Practice Database
The Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy at Kansas State University developed a Refworks database for sharing citations to literature on the study and practice of democracy. More »

Shared Governance Lit Review
The Center for Collaborative Policy at Sacramento State University recently released a literature review of shared governance in higher education. More »

U.K. Government Report on People Power
Communities in Control, Real People, Real Power is the report of a U.K. government agency charged with identifying means of pushing power down to the community level. Download the report here.

TDI Member Opportunities

Contribute to the Syllabi Repository
TDI is embarking on an ambitious project to develop a deliberative democracy syllabi repository. Learn how you can contribute! More »