The Christian-Muslim Dialogue Committee of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh invited Professor Leonard Swidler and Dr. Racelle Weiman of the Dialogue Institute to serve as Scholars-in-Residence over a weekend early in 2011 to lead faculty seminars, lecture and facilitate an all-day workshop designed to teach dialogue principles and techniques to 20 doctoral students and assorted faculty members.

The purpose of the workshop was to elicit and promote interest in the academy in the study, teaching, and implementation of constructive and effective dialogue with emphasis on the need for critical thinking.

The Honors College of the university sponsored a public lecture by Prof Swidler to mark the first UN week of religious harmony on February 7, 2011. “Dialogue in a Global Society” was attended by hundreds of students, encouraged by a multi-disciplinary faculty whose primary mission is the exploration of the cultural, philosophical, historical, political, and religious roots of existing conflicts. The collaboration between the Dialogue Institute and the Department of Theology at Duquesne University was initiated by faculty members Dr. Marinus C. Iwuchukwu, Chair of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Committee, and Dr. Aimee Upjohn Light, Executive Director of the Journal of Interreligious Dialogue.