On July 1, Kristi Clemens stepped into a new role, becoming the executive director of the Dialogue Project — an initiative that focuses on facilitating conversations across different perspectives for undergraduates. Clemens — who first joined Dartmouth as an associate director of residential education in 2009 — previously co-led the Dialogue Project with Dean of the Faculty Elizabeth Smith, while also serving as the Title IX coordinator. Her position as Title IX coordinator has now been filled by interim Title IX coordinator Sarah Harebo, while Smith will continue to serve as the project’s primary contact with faculty. The Dartmouth sat down with Clemens to discuss her new position, her reflections on the project’s first year and her vision going forward.
Why did you decide to move to the Dialogue Project full time?
KC: I started working on the Dialogue Project about a year ago with Dean Elizabeth Smith to try to figure out what this project could be. It was very wide open and had lots of possibilities. We officially launched in the winter of January 2024, and doing the work of the Dialogue Project on top of my job as the Title IX coordinator was a bit challenging because the Title IX coordinator is a big job. My background is in higher education and student affairs — helping students develop outside the classroom. When the opportunity came to do the Dialogue Project full time, I was excited to make the transition to devote my time and energy fully to this new initiative.
You served as the Title IX coordinator for six years. How will your experience in the Title IX office inform your new role?
KC: There were definitely connections that I made throughout the time I was doing both roles — Title IX coordinator and Dialogue Project co-leader. People access the Title IX office to report sexual and gender-based harassment and misconduct. But a lot of times, I was talking with members of our community about conflict — things that weren’t necessarily sex or gender-based but were interpersonal conflicts that people seemed to not fully have the skills to manage. It’s a theme that I saw coming up over and over again in my work in higher education. The opportunity to have a systemic and cultural change here at Dartmouth with this project is something I’m really excited about.
You also previously served as a co-leader of the Dialogue Project. What did you learn from your role?
KC: I have loved working with Dean Smith, and we’ll continue to co-direct the Dialogue Project even though I’m the executive director. She’s very much an equal partner in the work that we’re doing because we’re focusing not just on students, but on faculty and staff as well. In her role leading Arts and Sciences, she’s the best positioned to lead that change for our faculty partners. People don’t always realize it’s somewhat unusual for an initiative to be co-led by a faculty member and a staff member, so it’s been really wonderful to partner with her, hear her perspective and build on her experience here at Dartmouth. She’s been here longer than I have and in a really different context, and I think that I can bring some sides of Dartmouth that she might not be as familiar with. We have regular meetings to check in on what we’re seeing, what we’re understanding and finding the opportunities together.
What are your takeaways from the first year of the Dialogue Project and Dartmouth Dialogues? What worked well?
KC: The Middle East Dialogues were a huge success and will continue with some additional programming in the fall. That was a great example of faculty members coming together to show our community that you can have dialogue for difference. Launching the partnership with StoryCorps One Small Step has been wonderful. They’ve recorded more than 25 conversations between members of our community and are coming back to do some more in the fall. I love working with StoryCorps because they’re so positive. This is their first time doing this as a college initiative, and I’m excited for us both to learn together. We’ve also hosted two different special guest speaker events — Marc Brackett in January and then Shanterra McBride and Rosalind Wiseman in the spring.
I have heard in all the conversations that I’ve had with faculty, students, staff, alumni and parents real excitement and enthusiasm for this work and this project, but sometimes it can be hard — particularly for students who have such busy schedules — to make room for this work in their schedule. I’m curious and open to hear from folks the ways that we can make this easier for students to engage with, knowing that they have so much on their plates. I think we all agree that approaching this as a skill-building mission is important, but helping students find space to put it into their schedules is something that’s been a bit of a challenge.
Would you do anything differently this next year?
KC: I see this fall as the beginning of a true year one. We are working with some folks that provide workshops and training. The Constructive Dialogue Institute is one key partner that we’ve started working with this summer, and they are fantastic. I would love to partner more closely with Residential Life and the house communities, and we’ve started having some of those conversations.
There are always going to be people that will opt into a workshop, but I’d love to have dialogue be so pervasive throughout our campus culture that it’s happening in your classroom, your residence hall, your Greek house and your club. That might be the most effective way to help people engage without it feeling like it’s added time that they need to invest. Working with Residential Life, the Dean of the College and Student Affairs will really be a key component of that.
What are your short-term and long-term goals for your new position?
KC: A goal we have — in partnership with a consortium of college presidents committed to dialogue called the Institute for Citizens & Scholars’s College Presidents for Civic Preparedness that College President Sian Leah Beilock is a member of — is to have 50% of your students in the first year engage in some dialogue programming. That’s a clear metric that we can strive for. We are doing some work in New Student Orientation for incoming ’28s to have a dialogue session that all students attend. We will also find ways to leverage student leadership on campus — whether that is through student club leadership or athletic leadership or opinion leaders on campus — by connecting with them and helping them amplify the message and the initiatives.
We'll know that this is successful when we see students who are able to engage in difficult conversations and still come away feeling heard and feeling like they understand the other person's point of view.
How would you introduce the Dialogue Project to an incoming freshman?
KC: We expect our students, faculty and staff to engage in difficult dialogue, and rather than just leaving it there, we’re going to teach you how to do that in the classroom and outside of the classroom. I want it to become part of the fabric of what people know about Dartmouth. When you talk to your friends or when you were in high school thinking about coming to Dartmouth, people probably thought Dartmouth is in the wilderness or is really competitive. I would love for this to be in that same breath — Dartmouth does a really great job in cultivating spaces for dialogue where people can share their opinions and beliefs in a respectful way and not fear that they’re going to be ostracized from a community. We can build a stronger community through the teaching, learning and practicing of these skills.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
