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 democracy in and through higher education.

Upcoming Events

Association of American Colleges and Universities
THE WIT, THE WILL... AND THE WALLET Supporting Educational Innovation, Shaping our Global Futures: AAC&U Annual Meeting in Washington, DC – January 20-23, 2010. Watch for an announcement about a TDI gathering

Make a Note of This

TDI’s Thoughts on Recent Political News
In our most recent e-news, TDI Director Nancy Thomas writes about the lack of civil discourse around the President’s education speech and his address to Congress. More

TDI’s Thoughts on Town Hall Meetings
In our most recent e-news to members, TDI Director Nancy Thomas writes about how the planning for our recent national conference could help improve the conversation and civility of the health care town hall meetings. More >

Download Start Talking, a handbook about managing difficult dialogues in the classroom.

New Books from Kettering Foundation
The Kettering Foundation has produced several terrific publications on higher education’s role in American democracy recently, including A Different Kind of Politics (2009). More »

New Book: Democratic Professionalism
Bowling Green Professor Albert Dzur's new book proposes an approach he calls "democratic professionalism" to enable broader public engagement deliberation about major social issues. More »

The American Prospect Special Issue
The American Prospect has a new special report dedicated to revitalizing American democracy. You can read the six lead articles including one on deliberative democracy here. More »

Strengthening Democracy Report
Building upon the unprecedented engagement citizens showed during the presidential election, a new report with recommendations to President-elect Obama has been released on how to strengthen our Democracy. More »

Discussion Guide for Peer Review
TDI developed a discussion guide for campuses to use in conjunction with the latest issue of Peer Review which focuses on student political engagement. More »

Get Involved

New working groups
At the No Better Time conference, some new working groups emerged. Are you interested in the role of community colleges in a strong democracy? Democratizing institutional governance and (imagine this) faculty senates? Democratic teaching strategies? Click here...

Read about and contribute to the resources linked to the No Better Time conference.

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 »