Compassionate Conversation: Vice Provost Ralina Joseph launches Racial Exhaustion with a multi-speaker panel and book signing

Dr. Ralina L. Joseph reads an excerpt from her latest book, Racial Exhaustion: How to Move through Racism in the Wake of DEI. Photo by Hannah Park.   On Tuesday, Dec. 2, the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute (BKI) hosted the book launch…

Compassionate Conversation: Clean Shelter founders visit UCLA to share humanitarian solutions in Gaza

  Seba Abudaqa (sixth from left) and Tom Kellner (fourth from right) with DaD staff and students.   By Hannah Park On Monday, Nov. 17, the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute (BKI) and Dialogue Across Difference (DaD) Initiative…

BKI “Compassionate Conversations” series featured in UCLA Newsroom

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On Nov. 17, 2025, the UCLA Newsroom announced the launch of the second year of the Bedari Kindness Institute’s “Compassionate Conversations” series in an article titled “UCLA’s Compassionate Conversations focuses on ‘kindness…

Lunch with Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha sparks conversation about finding humanity in Israel-Palestine

  Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha with Bedari Kindness Institute staff and student interns. By Hannah Park On Monday, Nov. 3, Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative and internal…

Bedari Kindness Institute featured in UCLA Newsroom article

On Sep. 28, 2025, Bedari Kindness Institute (BKI) director David N. Myers and deputy director Maia Ferdman were featured in a UCLA Newsroom article by Lucy Berbeo and Citlalli Chávez-Nava: “From polarization to pluralism: Harnessing the…

Bedari Kindness Institute Program Coordinator

BKI is searching for an exceptional part-time staff member (10-15 hours/week) to support its various programmatic activities and communications efforts. This would be a paid STDT 4 position (non-Academic title). Please note this is not a research…

Dialogue Across Difference Initiative Student Internship AY 2025-26

The DaD Initiative is seeking up to five student interns to join our team for the academic year! Student interns serve as key thought partners for Initiative staff and provide crucial support for the initiatives daily operations and…

DaD Faculty Fellows celebrate successful inaugural year

On June 6th, 2025, the inaugural cohort of Dialogue Across Difference Faculty Fellows gathered to celebrate their successful completion of the year-long program. The faculty fellowship, a partnership between the UCLA Teaching and Learning…

DaD Faculty Fellow Abigail Saguy featured on Spectrum News

Dialogue Across Difference Faculty Fellow Abigail Saguy, Professor of Sociology, was recently featured on Spectrum News for her innovative use of AI software to promote dialogue. She was the first in the country to integrate the Sway program,…

UCLA Dialogue Across Difference Initiative featured in Constructive Dialogue Institute webinar

In April 2025, BKI deputy director Maia Ferdman appeared as a panelist on the Constructive Dialogue Institute’s educational webinar, Building a Culture of Constructive Dialogue on Campus: Lessons from Leading Institutions. The presentation…