Proposal for a Dialogue Minor: Revision A
School of Communication
(approved by CMNS USC 12 October 2005)
This Minor is a concentration in studies on dialogue to enable students with interests in many disciplines, including communication, to focus on the conceptual framework, technique, and practice of creating, sustaining, and evaluating dialogue. The Minor 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 intervention (e.g., negotiation around public issues), the role of dialogue will be thoroughly explored as a contributing factor. Emphasis is on the relevance of dialogue as an approach to difficult public issues, including situations where conflict resolution or conflict management are evident. The levels of analysis range from local to global.
There are courses already taught in communication which are now being articulated in terms of their relationship to dialogue. The courses in the Dialogue Minor will be similar to the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue in their teaching approach, and the two programs will share resources, guest speakers, common events and programs, etc. Applicants to the Semester in Dialogue will be informed about the Dialogue Minor program. To the extent possible, the Dialogue Minor will expose students to dialogue in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, enabling them to contribute to its work while learning from its experience.
The Dialogue Minor will be governed and managed by the School of Communication, in conformity with Faculty and University regulations, and in regular communication with the Steering Committee of the Centre for Dialogue at Harbour Centre. The Undergraduate Studies Committee of the School of Communication and members of the Steering Committee of the Centre for Dialogue, including its chairs or co-chairs, shall meet twice each year to discuss management of this program. The School and Centre will co-operate to form a cohort of students taking a Dialogue Minor in a given year, and that cohort will be involved in the Centre for Dialogue (as described above) to the extent possible.
3. Access and Management:
1) Courses will be open to students from all faculties who have completed 50 credit hours, and who have achieved a CGPA of 3.0.
2) Declaration of a commitment to the Dialogue Minor may occur prior to taking any of the listed courses, when enrolling in one of the six listed courses (e.g., CMNS 347), or at the entry to, or completion of, the Dialogue Semester.
3) Approved Communication students will have a pre-established proportion of spaces in CMNS courses listed in the Dialogue Minor so that their progress is not impeded.
4) Students registered in the Dialogue Minor program will have second priority (after CMNS students) for registration in these courses; otherwise, admission to any course will be based on the order in which students register. Students registered in the Dialogue Minor will be exempt from prerequisites if they are not Communication majors. Students in the Dialogue Minor will be tracked through SIMS as a ‘group’. Waiver of the prerequisites will be managed by the School of Communication’s advisor, semesterly.
5) Enrollments generally will be limited to about 25-30 students per course, or such other limits as the School may set from time to time.
6) 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’ inquiries about the Dialogue Minor itself would be addressed to the School of Communication.
7) Students can take three paths to completion of the Dialogue Minor:
(a) Students enrolled in the Semester in Dialogue [15 UD credits] must complete CMNS/DIAL 460-4 to satisfy requirements for the Dialogue Minor, for a total 19 upper division credits.
(b) Students taking the Dialogue Minor program, but not enrolled in the Semester in Dialogue, will complete three(3) 4-credit courses from the approved list, plus CMNS/DIAL 460-4, plus CMNS/DIAL 461-3, for a total of 19 upper division credits.
(c) Students taking the Semester in Dialogue [15 UD credits] could also complete one of the listed Communication 4-credit courses, for a total of 19 upper division credits.
8) Normally students will complete CMNS/DIAL 460-4 after completion of the Semester in Dialogue, or after completion of at least two of the three other required CMNS courses in the Dialogue Minor list (see below).
9) Courses listed here have a strong international character, emphasize writing and oral presentation, and have a broad multi-disciplinary character. The School of Communication and Centre for Dialogue will, from time to time, identify further courses both in Communication and other departments/ schools/units that could be listed as electives to strengthen the breadth, quantitative, international or writing-intensive character of the Dialogue Minor. These will be brought for discussion to the regular meetings of the two units (see Governance above). The purpose of listing such electives will be to ensure a more intellectually-complete and well-rounded program.
Best efforts will be made to form a cohort among the Dialogue Minor and Dialogue Semester students by inviting them to participate in special common events, not limited to their joint participation in CMNS/DIAL 460-4. Instructors of courses listed in the Dialogue Minor will be consulted once a semester about planning and timing of courses, and will be invited to take part in Centre for Dialogue events in order to bring about a similar approach to teaching and supervision, and greater coherence in the Dialogue field.
4. Continuing Requirements:
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.
5. Three paths to completion of a Minor in Dialogue:
a) Completing the 15 upper division credit Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue, plus CMNS/DIAL 460-4, for a total of 19credits.
b) Completing three courses from the approved list below, plus CMNS/DIAL 460-4 plus CMNS/DIAL 461-3, for a total of 19 credits.
c) Completing the 15 upper division credit Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue plus one of the CMNS 4-credit courses from the approved list below, for a total of 19 credits.
The Communication courses listed here satisfy the international, writing-intensive and breadth requirements.
6. Communication Courses listed in the Dialogue Minor:
CMNS 332-4(new) Communication and Rhetoric
CMNS 347-4 Communication in Conflict and Intervention
CMNS 425-4 Applied Communication for Social Issues
CMNS 437-4 Media Democratization: From Critique to Transformation
CMNS 447-4 Negotiation and Dialogue as Communication
CMNS 432-4(new) Public Opinion, Propaganda, and Political Communication
(The agreement to waive prerequisites for each of the above listed courses, for Dialogue Minor students, has been received from each instructor.)
7. New Required CMNS/DIAL Course:
CMNS/DIAL 460-4 Seminar in Dialogue and Public Issues.
This seminar course is intended for Minor in Dialogue students. If space is available, non-Minor students may be accommodated. This course focuses on 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 Dialogue in Semester [15 credits] or after two of the three required listed CMNS courses (see list above). Attendance at a number of dialogue events is required during this course, particularly at 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. Students will be provided with a list of approved events prior to each semester, and other 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 in Dialogue.
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 460-4 with consent of the instructor. This course is a mandatory requirement only in path (b) above. 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. Agreement for co-supervision by a responsible person in the field must be in place prior to instructor’s consent for a student to enroll in this course.
This Dialogue Minor should be inserted between the CMNS Minor and Publishing Minor program info (p. 125 in 2005/06 calendar).
DIALOGUE MINOR PROGRAM
This Minor is a concentration in studies on dialogue to enable students with interests in many disciplines, including communication, to focus on the conceptual framework, technique, and practice of creating, sustaining, and evaluating dialogue. The Minor highlights the relationship of dialogue with public issues. Emphasis is on the relevance of dialogue as an approach to difficult public issues, including situations where conflict resolution or conflict management are evident. The levels of analysis range from local to global.
Entry Requirements
Acceptance into the Dialogue Minor program is subject to enrollment limitations. Applicants will be accepted who have a minimum CGPA or transfer CGPA of 3.00, upon completion of 50 credit hours (at SFU and/or transfer credits).
Once approved for a Dialogue Minor program, a student must maintain a minimum CGPA of 2.75 to remain in good standing. Students who do not maintain this requirement may be dropped from the program, but may re-apply for re-admission at a later date.
19 upper division credit hours, by following one of these two paths:
Completing
three courses from the list below, plus CMNS/DIAL 460-4 plus
CMNS/DIAL 461-3.
Completing
the 15-credit Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue plus one of the
CMNS courses from the list below, or CMNS/DIAL 460-4.
CMNS 332-4 Communication and Rhetoric
CMNS 347-4 Communication in Conflict and Intervention
CMNS 425-4 Applied Communication for Social Issues
CMNS 432-4 Public Opinion, Propaganda, and Political Communication
CMNS 437-4 Media Democratization: From Critique to Transformation
CMNS 447-4 Negotiation and Dialogue as Communication
Note: Prerequisites for the above-mentioned CMNS courses may be waived for Dialogue Minor students, in consultation with the CMNS Undergraduate Advisor.
Note: Upper Division CMNS courses taken for credit towards the Dialogue Minor may not be counted as part of CMNS credit needed for an honours, joint major, major, extended minor, or minor in Communication; or minor in Publishing.