Reconstructed Worlds: Emerging Perspectives in Global Problem Solving
By Devika Goyal and Elena Muglia
The Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought explored the theme “Reconstructed Worlds: Emerging Perspectives in Global Problem Solving” during the 2024-2025 academic year. The UCGT’s work culminated in its fourth-annual symposium, held on April 4, 2025. The symposium event “Dialogue in Crisis: Pathways to New Conversations” built on the UCGT’s year-long project examining how to foster meaningful discussion in difficult times.
Digital Map
Throughout the year, the UCGT asked its core committee members to pinpoint on a virtual map a geographical location of personal importance to them as well as a location that represented a global issue of concern. Each member gave a small presentation on their points on the map and their personal reflections.
By the end of the year, the group had created a shared, reconstructed digital map of its own. The links between each pinned location represented the interconnectedness of both the members in the UCGT and of global issues that spanned the refugee crisis, access to education, gender equity, climate, and other pressing concerns.
Facilitating Conversation
Discussions about global issues led the UCGT back to how the global was influencing the local. Through the weekly meetings, the group developed the project, Dialogue in Crisis, which aimed to address a pressing problem on campus: the erosion of open and meaningful conversations. Amid a climate of self-censorship and division, the core committee envisioned a project that centered on the belief that dialogue, when approached with care and curiosity, can bridge divides to strengthen community.
Drawing on research from focus groups, observations of campus initiatives, and discussions during weekly UCGT meetings, the committee decided to devise a method to facilitate a conversation. The group designed a set of questions that progressed from low to high intensity in terms of campus culture and values. The cards aimed to establish a sense of trust through easier questions, which would then lead the group to more intense ones, such as “Do you feel like all opinions can be freely expressed on campus?” From the outset, the project’s goal was process-driven. Instead of focusing on creating the perfect conversation, the UCGT’s goal was to create a space where such a conversation could and would happen.
Dialogue in Crisis: Pathways to New Conversations
The UCGT implemented this plan through conversation circles with three to five participants over the Spring 2025 semester. Each conversation circle revealed new insights about the conditions that make meaningful conversations possible, promoted active listening, and set community ground rules together.
The annual symposium presented a refined iteration of the conversation circle with members of the UCGT as well as new student and faculty participants. The participants answered the deck of questions and engaged in collaborative reflection after the conversation.