Peer Dialogue Fellowship

One of the key goals in the Sheedy gateway course, “Business in Context,” is that students “know how to contribute to, and facilitate, liberal arts-style dialogue." They also learn to "appreciate why it is valuable for community building, career discernment, and answering big questions.”

Like any skill, people get better at dialogue with practice. “Business in Context” is designed to help Sheedy students practice.

To that end, each “Business in Context” class employs two to three trained Peer Dialogue Fellows. These are Sheedy students who have taken “Business in Context” in the past and are ready to help support members of the new cohort in their journey through the course and beyond. 

Responsibilities

The Peer Dialogue Fellows have four main responsibilities:

1. They regularly attend class, participating in small group activities and discussions to help focus and enrich the conversations.
2. They respond to students’ comments on Perusall (a reading platform utilized in the course), answering students’ questions or adding new perspectives to the conversations. 
3. They periodically check in on students’ small dialogue groups, offering feedback on the students’ questions and insights for strengthening the group dynamics. 
4. They are available to answer questions outside of class, ranging from “Can you help me understand this reading?” to “Where am I supposed to sign up for my conference?”

As this description suggests, unlike TAs, the fellows aren’t primarily responsible for grading. (They do help track information related to students’ dialogue groups.) Instead their purpose is to enrich students’ skills and experiences as dialoguers. 

Selection process

The Peer Dialogue Fellowship is a paid leadership position that lasts throughout the fall semester. Sheedy students who have completed “Business in Context” and are interested in the role should reach out to the Sheedy Program directors to request consideration. The Sheedy Program directors will select students based on the leadership, dialogue, and reading skills they demonstrated in “Business in Context.”

Compensation

Fellows receive a $1,500 stipend for the semester with the expectation that their responsibilities will take approximately 5 hours per week (3 hours of attending class; 1 hour of responding to Perusall comments; 1 hour related to dialogue groups, whether observing groups, offering feedback on dialogue questions, or checking up on attendance), plus some initial training (approximately 5 sessions) and their leadership at the Sheedy retreat (one weekend near the start of the fall semester). After the course finishes, the fellows are also expected to meet with the directors once to debrief the experience and help write up documentation for future years.