The Cassandra Voss Center’s Olive Branch Initiative is an ongoing effort aimed at bringing people with various perspectives together to share stories and engage in authentic critical dialogue. The initiative is inspired by the sustained, charitable dialogue Kurt and Cassandra Voss practiced from their distinct vantage points and diverging convictions. For the last four years, the centerpiece of the center's Olive Branch Initiative has been the Intergroup Dialogue and Equity Faculty Learning Cohort. This year, we are piloting a new effort for students: Olive Branch Peace Meals.

Intergroup Dialogue and Equity Faculty Learning Cohort
The Cassandra Voss Center is sponsoring its fourth installation of the Intergroup Dialogue and Equity Faculty Learning Cohort for the 2023-24 academic year. This enriching faculty development opportunity will provide participants with opportunities to increase knowledge around social inequalities, to deepen their pedagogical skill sets leading intergroup dialogue, and to infuse their work with best practices in equity scholarship. 

This cohort will:

• Meet monthly throughout the 2023-24 academic year to discuss classroom issues related to dialogue and equity.
• Prepare to integrate intergroup dialogue and discipline-related equity scholarship and pedagogy into a 2024-25 course; OR develop a piece of original scholarship that is related to dialogue and equity; OR develop a proposal for integrating equity and dialogue work into one of the high impact practices.

Faculty will participate in social justice education discussions that blend theory and experiential learning to facilitate students’ learning about social group identity, social inequality, and intergroup relations.

This learning cohort will be an opportunity to engage with each other and to build community here at St. Norbert College. Participants will be awarded a $1000 honorarium, split into two payments at the conclusion each semester of the '23-24 academic year. 

2023-24 Cohort

• Deb Anderson - Professor of Biology
• Tom Bolin - Professor of Theology and Religious Studies 
• Mark Glantz - Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies
• Debbie Kupinsky - Assistant Professor of Art
• Andrew O'Connor - Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies 
• Wendy Scattergoood - Assistant Professor of Political Science 
• Vicky Tashjian - Professor of History