“Developing the Art of Powerful Questions”
Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 10-11 am

Whether in the classroom or the workplace, artfully composed, engaging questions have the power to open conversation, build connections, generate creative and thoughtful responses, signal careful listening, explore divergent perspectives, and hold space for diverse experiences and deepening reflection among conversants. And yet, without forethought, questions can also foreclose the possibilities for meaningful conversation.

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the ‘linguistic architecture’ of powerful questions, and have an opportunity to reflect and practice designing questions that move toward more generative conversations. Workshop participants will leave with a heightened knowledge of how powerful questions can lead them to more meaningful dialogue with students and colleagues.

Lydia Reinig, Ph.D., serves as Director of Dialogue Across Difference Programs in the Office of Civic Engagement. Before moving to Sewanee, Lydia was a Postdoctoral Research & Teaching Associate at the University of New Hampshire’s Civil Discourse Lab. There she developed an undergraduate curriculum in civil discourse, public dialogue and deliberation and conducted research on ways of sustaining dialogue in the face of polarization. As a ‘pracademic’, she has collaborated with municipalities and museum spaces, among other diverse civic contexts, to cultivate meaningful conversations about difficult topics and work towards more democratic processes. At Sewanee, her work focuses on facilitating spaces for individuals to build capacity to engage across differences.

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