The first Human Progress and Flourishing Workshop is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21, at 10 a.m. in Beckwith Recital Hall. Ilana Redstone, associate professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is set to present “The Uncertainty Principle: Why Building a Climate that Welcomes a Diversity of Perspectives Can Be So Difficult and How We Can Do It Anyway.”

All members of the NDSU community and the public are invited to attend the free event. After the presentation, food and refreshments will be served in the Challey School of Music atrium.

Redstone’s current research focuses on campus climate and civil discourse across ideological divides.

In her presentation, Redstone will discuss the difficulties people often face when talking with someone who has different opinions about controversial and sensitive ideas, and she will describe how to overcome barriers to constructive engagement.

Redstone is the founder of Diverse Perspectives Consulting and president of The Mill Center for the Advancement of Critical Thinking. She also is the author of “Unassailable Ideas: How Unwritten Rules and Social Media Shape Discourse in American Higher Education,” a faculty fellow at Heterodox Academy and creator of the “Beyond Bigots and Snowflakes” video series. She earned a joint doctorate in demography and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Human Progress and Flourishing Workshop, which is hosted by the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth, invites internationally-renowned scholars from universities across the country to present their research and engage with the NDSU community.

The series continues every other Friday through April 22.

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