Building Resilience through Connection
March 16 - 19, 2026
This four-day symposium will bring together scholars, performers, and educators to explore the ways cultivating connection can build resilience.
Symposium Details
Registration
Registration for the Our Common Ground Symposium will be live in early 2026.
$20 Community Members | $10 UVM Faculty & Staff | FREE for Students
Schedule at a Glance
| Date | Program | Time & Location |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 16, 2025 | Navigating the Current Moment: Understanding the Shifts in Culture, Education, and Society with Dr. Michael Benitez Jr. | 10:00 -11:30 AM Silver Maple Ballroom |
| Tuesday, March 17, 2025 | The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe: Dreams and Storytelling with Prof. Yassin Alsalman | 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Silver Maple Ballroom |
| Wednesday, March 18, 2025 | Rethinking LGBTQ+ Power by Reclaiming Identity with Dr. Joel Davis Brown | 10:00 - 11:30 AM Silver Maple Ballroom |
| Wednesday, March 18, 2025 | Book signing: The Souls of Queer Folk with Dr. Joel Davis Brown | 11:30 AM Silver Maple Ballroom |
| Thursday, March 19, 2025 | WANDA HEADING-GRANT KEYNOTE - Practicing Resilience Together: Building Sustainable Solidarity through Ethical Mindfulness with Prof. Rhonda Magee | 4:00 - 5:30 PM Silver Maple Ballroom |
| Thursday, March 19, 2025 | Book signing: The Inner Work of Racial Justice with Prof. Rhonda Magee | 5:30 PM Silver Maple Ballroom |
MONDAY, MARCH 16
Dr. Michael Benitez presents Navigating the Current Moment: Understanding the Shifts in Culture, Education, and Society.
Program Details
Navigating the Current Moment: Understanding the Shifts in Culture, Education, and Society
Monday, March 16 | 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM | In-person | Light snacks provided
We are living in a time of rapid change—shifting policies, cultural tensions, and evolving conversations around identity, education, and leadership. Dr. Michael Benitez offers an insightful, real-time analysis of today’s most pressing issues, breaking down their impact on campuses, communities, and workplaces. With his signature ability to connect historical context to current realities, he provides audiences with the tools to navigate challenges, engage in critical dialogue, and build stronger, more resilient institutions and communities
More on Michael
Dr. Michael Benitez Jr. is a nationally acclaimed educator, scholar, and strategist who brings critical insight and authentic perspective to conversations about leadership, culture, and change in higher education and workplaces. Known for his dynamic presence and ability to connect across lines of difference, Dr. Benitez draws from a lifetime of experience and a distinguished record of leadership at top institutions to help build environments where people feel seen, valued, and empowered.
TUESDAY, MARCH 17
bring your own lunch and watch Yassin “NARCY” Alsalman presents the Diatribes of a Dying Tribe: Dreams and Storytelling.
Program Details
The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe: Dreams and Storytelling with Yassin Alsalman
Tuesday, March 17 | 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM | In-person | Bring your own lunch!
Iraqi- Canadian Rap Pioneer NARCY speaks on the importance of intergenerational and cultural solidary through the arts, education and storytelling. Building from his masters thesis on Hip-Hop and Identity, Yassin speaks on the freedom of multi-media arts, undoing institution through syllabus and finally, building community over fame.
More on Yassin
Yassin ' NARCY ' Alsalman is a multi-media polymath with a focus on directing / writing / music and education. He is a part time professor at Concordia University in Montreal for the last decade, more recently teaching courses on Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Dave Chappelle.
He is a celebrated award-winning Juno Nominated video director, a published author through Haymarket Books and a co-owner of Old Montréal bookshop, MAKTABA - located at 165 St-Paul Ouest.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18
Dr. Joel Davis Brown presents Rethinking LGBTQ+ Power by Reclaiming Identity
Program Details
Rethinking LGBTQ+ Power by Reclaiming Identity with Dr. Joel Davis Brown
Wednesday, March 18 | 10:00 - 11:30 AM | In-person | Light snacks provided
Although in recent times the world feels bleak, we can further LGBTQ+ liberation by revisiting our history and rescuing LGBTQ+ identity from the fractured and myopic lens that some would bestow upon us. Our legacy is one of visionary, bold, and creative leadership. The challenge and mystery is that somehow, many of us have forgotten our beauty and timeliness wisdom By re-learning the source of LGBTQ+ power and revisiting the crucible in which it was formed, we can shift our collective consciousness in a way that will make LGBTQ+ liberation less of a tepid idea or "hoped for outcome" and more of a manifest destiny. We are not here to mourn over our collective demise, but to joyously plot the next stage of our revolution.
Book Signing
Wednesday, March 18 | 11:30 AM
Immediately following the lecture, Dr. Davis Brown will be signing copies of his book, The Souls of Queer Folk: How Understanding LGBTQ+ Culture Can Transform Your Leadership Practice.
More on Joel
Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown is the Chief Visionary Officer of Pneumos LLC, a management consulting firm based in
San Francisco and Nairobi, specializing in cultural intelligence, leadership development, and organizational
strategy. He is also the co-owner of MetaPrinciple, a global training and certification company focused on
supporting systemic change. With nearly 25 years of consulting experience, Joel works with organizational
leaders and professionals across five continents to create adaptive environments that foster psychological
safety, healing, and transformation. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and government
agencies such as Apple, LinkedIn, the United Nations, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
THURSDAY, MARCH 19 - THE WANDA HEADING-GRANT KEYNOTE
Professor Rhonda Magee, the 2026 Wanda Heading-Grant Keynote Speaker, will present Practicing Resilience Together: Building Sustainable Solidarity through Ethical Mindfulness.
The Wanda Heading-Grant Keynote is FREE to all.
Program Details
Practicing Resilience Together: Building Sustainable Solidarity through Ethical Mindfulness with Rhonda Magee
Thursday, March 19 | 4 - 5:30 PM | In-person
How do we stay engaged in the work of justice and inclusion—not just as individuals striving alone, but as communities that sustain one another? This keynote reframes resilience as fundamentally relational, exploring how the practices we cultivate both personally and collectively create the conditions for lasting solidarity across difference. Drawing on insights from social psychology, contemplative traditions, and community organizing, Professor Magee reveals how ethical mindfulness strengthens both our inner resources and our bonds with others, creating networks of mutual support that can weather difficulty and sustain transformative work over time.
Book Signing
Thursday, March 19 | 5:30 PM
Immediately following the lecture, Professor Rhonda Magee will be signing copies of her book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming our Communities through Mindfulness.
More on Rhonda Magee
Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D., is Emeritus Professor of Law and served as the Founding Director of the Center for Contemplative Law and Ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Professor Magee has spent more than twenty years exploring the intersections of higher education, social justice, and contemplative practices. The author of the award-winning The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness (Penguin Random House Tarcher Perigee: 2019), Professor Magee is currently at work on a follow-up on the foundations of personal and collective strength through embodied mindfulness-in-action entitled, We are The Mountain.