Deliberative Discourse Framework
The role of a higher education institution and college, particularly one that focuses on
policy, is to ensure that we foster spaces that encourage the growth of informed, engaged citizens prepared to participate in the work of our democracy. Success requires working with, and leading across, differences. More specifically, it requires skills in deliberative discourse.
Deliberative discourse is a form of communication in which participants engage in a discussion with the goal of reaching a decision or coming to a mutual understanding. It is characterized by a focus on reasoning, the exchange of ideas, and an effort to consider multiple perspectives.
To address the challenges ushered in by polarization on campuses, Heinz College developed a multisystemic intervention informed by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological development model, that seeks to embed and integrate deliberative discourse skills into multiple parts of the student experience, leading to a demonstration of the following:
- Increased exchange of diverse ideas and perspectives across the college
- Increased awareness of personal and professional barriers that prevent working across differences
- Increased skills that demonstrate complex and nuanced discourse to solve critical problems
Our Efforts & Events
Leading Across Differences
A concentration that equips you to engage in deliberative discourse & translate those conversations into action for good
Humans of Heinz
A series highlighting diverse backgrounds, challenges, and triumphs in our community
Constructive Dialogue - Heinz x SPIA
Fostering open dialogue for productive conversations on complex topics
Explore Our Work
To lead during a time in which polarization divides us like never before, we must move beyond words and embrace action. Heinz College’s Leading Across Difference (LAD) concentration equips you with the tools to engage in deliberative discourse, and translate those conversations into policies and actions that advance social good.
This concentration provides education and experiential learning in the practice of deliberative discourse to students, faculty, staff, and the community. This holistic approach will result in culture change over time. You'll take classes in conflict resolution, negotiation, and leadership, a course load that builds toward the LAD skills lab. Here, you employ the characteristics of deliberative discourse – beginning with a goal in mind and debating different points of view about how to achieve it – to solve complex current issues. You'll hear from experts in the field and collaborate in groups to produce policy reform recommendations that address a real-world problem.
Offered to members of all Heinz College educational programs, the Leading Across Difference concentration prepares you to navigate a workplace, industry, or society that suffers from division due to the stark contrast in the beliefs of its constituents. Upon completing the concentration, you'll possess the skills to facilitate discussion and harness the resulting collective wisdom to take action. Because it is action that creates impact—and impact is the goal toward which our graduates strive.
- 94-854: Developing as a Leader
- 91-869: Conflict Resolution
- 94-900: Negotiation
- 94-897: Leading Across Difference
The first three courses can be taken in any sequence, and are prerequisites to the Leading Across Difference course. Leading Across Difference is a new class grounded in experiential learning that engages students and members of the community in skills practice around solving complex problems.
Learning Outcomes:
- Cultivate cultural intelligence and responsiveness.
- Deepen negotiation and resolution across difference.
- Hone your leadership capabilities in managing diverse teams.
- Gain a competitive edge in the global job market.
Contact Dr. Basma for more information.
Humans of Heinz is a series that highlights the diverse backgrounds, challenges, and triumphs of individuals or groups in our community to foster a deeper understanding of the experiences that shape who we are. We invite students, faculty, and staff to share their personal stories in a safe, respectful, and empathetic space. This year, we want to allow the audience to drive the conversation, shape the narrative by addressing the issues that weigh on them the most.
The Humans of Heinz Series aims to:
- Elevate the identities and stories of Heinz students, faculty and staff.
- Honor individual experiences and reduce bias and generalizations about communities of people.
- Connect with the humanity and individual impact of global, national and local events, policies and structures.
Upcoming Events:
Check back soon for details about upcoming events.
Past Events:
The Cost of Belonging & the American Dream (April 2026)
What does it mean to be American and who gets to decide? Join us for a conversation on immigration, identity, and the phenomenon of the “American Dream” as we reflect how belonging is shaped by policy, power, and perception.
Unfriended Over Politics? (Oct. 2024)
With elections approaching, this gathering aims to explore the stress of navigating differing opinions with friends, family, and public figures.
Our Authentic Selves (April 2024)
Throughout the series, we’ve had discussions that connect to the identities we hold and how those impact our interactions with current events and our communities. Our final session of the year will focus on how we uphold and perhaps protect our identities as well as how we show up as our authentic selves.
Your "American" Dream (March 2024)
Discussion of the ideal that in the US, everyone has the equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Who is the American Dream actually for?
Community Post-Covid (Feb. 2024)
The lasting personal and professional effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic–the good and the bad. We aim to discuss the ways in which this global health emergency has altered our view of ourselves and how we interact, the lives we lead, and the world.
Past Events:
Collective Action, Social Movements, and the Possibility of Accountability with Professor Silvia Borzutzky (Spring 2026)
Since 2020, It feels like we’re in a constant cycle of moments of outrage, mobilization, protests, and then… what? This final session in the Accountability in the Age of Ambivalence series, Collective Action, Social Movements, and the Possibility of Accountability, will examine if and how social movements still produce real change. We’ll explore what makes movements effective, why participation is uneven, how today’s media environment shapes activism, and what it takes to sustain momentum over time. In keeping with the recurring theme, we will also investigate whether social movements encourage or distort civic engagement with policy.
National Power: Media, Disinformation, and the Political Economy of Activism with Professor Daniel Silverman & Professor Chris Labash (Spring 2026)
This session is a panel event with guest panelists Professor Daniel Silverman and Professor Chris Labash. It will examine how states, corporations, and global institutions shape information environments and, in doing so, influence public perception, activism, and the boundaries of accountability. We will explore disinformation as strategy rather than error, the political economy of attention, and the weakening of global truth-finding institutions. Participants will reflect on what accountability can mean when truth itself becomes contested terrain.
The Politics and Expectations of Institutional Accountability (Fall 2025)
This is the second part of the Accountability in the Age of Ambivalence series, which aims to cultivate meaningful conversations across personal, institutional, national, and global domains through the lens of accountability. This session turns the spotlight toward institutions and asks: Within a political and politicized environment, what expectations of accountability and participation exist for institutions, particularly academic ones? When should a university remain neutral? When is neutrality a form of complicity? As students demand accountability — from divestment to statements of solidarity — what principles should guide institutional action?
Understanding Accountability Through Personal and Intellectual Responsibility (Fall 2025)
This first part of a four-part series will explore how we as individuals navigate complex, polarizing issues in the face of personal bias, misinformation, and responsibility. While systemic and institutional dynamics shape our conversations, this session centers on the choices we make as individuals — how we show up, listen, speak, and engage with one another in the face of complexity. The session will also initiate considerations of the tension between free expression and empathy in today’s hyper-mediated, often polarized campus climate. What responsibilities do individuals have to seek truth, combat misinformation, and remain open to nuance? How do we avoid collapsing into apathy or outrage without understanding? Moderated by Dr. Dareen Basma.
Heinz College works with our policy colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public and International Affairs to offer the following events:
Stay Tuned for Fall 2026 Events
Details coming soon for Fall 2026.
Past Events:
Step Into the Driver’s Seat of the Federal Budget (April 2026)
Image of the PDF flier for this eventParticipants took part in an interactive federal budget simulation workshop led by The Concord Coalition, working through the trade-offs and negotiations involved in balancing the national budget. The hands-on exercise encouraged collaborative, evidence-based discussion around spending, taxes, healthcare, and national security priorities.
Rethinking Public Safety: Violence, Governance, and the Limits of Policy (February 2026)
This conversation explored competing visions of public safety and the effectiveness of current approaches to violence prevention, policing, and governance. Panelists discussed how public health, democratic institutions, and criminal justice policy intersect in responding to violence and public safety challenges.
Defense, Diplomacy, and Development: Complementary or Competing Priorities? (November 2025)
Faculty and policy experts examined the evolving priorities shaping U.S. foreign policy, from national security and diplomacy to climate change, migration, and global conflict. The discussion considered how these approaches can compete or work together in advancing American interests.
AI, Ethics, & Policy: Who Bears the Responsibility When Machines Cause Harm? (September 2025)
This panel explored accountability in artificial intelligence, examining who should bear responsibility when AI systems cause harm — from developers and organizations to policymakers and regulators. Speakers discussed the ethical and policy challenges of deploying AI in high-stakes public settings.
Civil discourse is a conversation in which we’re trying to promote mutual understanding. "Deliberative Discourse" takes the conversation one step further, into action. Specifically, the goals are a commitment to social good and the prevention of social harm. The Deliberative Discourse Fellow is tasked with collaborating on the design of deliberative discourse events, as well as leading and facilitating events under this initiative.
The Deliberative Discourse Fellow receives a $5,000 per semester tuition scholarship for the duration of their master’s program at Heinz College. In addition to the scholarship, the DDF will work with DICE as an RA. This role would typically require working 7-10 hours per week (earning $17/ hour), during the fall and spring semesters, making them eligible to earn $4,000-$6,000 per academic year.
Mburu Kagiri is a second-year masters' student in the PPM-DA track with a background in Data Science and Global Studies. His research areas of interest include Sino-African economic and financial relations, exploring development through micro-financing and economic integration, and understanding what ethical and yet pragmatic regulations of artificial intelligence systems look like.
As the current Deliberative Discourse Fellow, Mburu aims to create spaces for difficult, necessary conversations — about disinformation, activism, and navigating polarizing political discourse — through the lens of accountability. In his free time, Mburu enjoys exploring Pittsburgh on his bike, social dancing, and cheering on his favorite soccer club, Manchester United.
Equipping and Engaging Leaders
Students, faculty, staff, and community members participate in workshops, discussions, and events that promote respectful engagement across differences and strengthen deliberative discourse skills.
