Pitt’s Center for Governance and Markets received a $2.7M grant to promote civil discourse

The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Governance and Markets has received a four-year, $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch Pluralism360, a new initiative focused on strengthening civil discourse across the university and the region.

The interdisciplinary, multi-university initiative is led by Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, professor of public and international affairs and founding director of the center, which is housed in Pitt's School of Public and International Affairs.

The program is designed around a 360-degree approach to pluralism - the principle of living together in a varied society - recognizing that students engage difference in many ways. The initiative engages students online, in classrooms, in extracurricular experiences, and through community partnerships.

"Disagreements on campus are rarely just about politics," Murtazashvili said. "They reflect deeper differences in values including moral, religious, philosophical and cultural commitments. Pluralism360 is about building institutional spaces where those differences can be engaged seriously and constructively, without assuming consensus or forcing agreement."

The project will support several initiatives in the David C. Frederick Honors College,

including visiting scholars, who will teach courses in politics and philosophy and engage students on pluralism, civic life and contested intellectual traditions, as well as online civic dialogue platforms that will offer low-barrier, asynchronous opportunities for students to engage diverse perspectives.

Plurailsm360 will feature student programming such as dialogues, reading groups, and leadership development activities led by Pitt faculty fellows.

Beyond campus, Pluralism360 will expand Pitt's regional engagement across Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia by building two complementary networks: a Regional Civic Leadership Network of nonprofit bridge-building organizations and a Regional Civil Discourse Network connecting colleges and universities working to strengthen civil discourse.

External partners also include Ideas Beyond Borders, Love Your Neighbor Community and the Pluralist Lab, which will support programming on global and religious pluralism.

"Pluralism360 complements Pitt's commitment to advancing civil discourse through scholarship, teaching and community engagement, and to modeling what it looks like for universities to lead in divided times," said Carissa Slotterback, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs. "At a moment when civil discourse feels increasingly fragile, this initiative will create spaces where difference is not avoided, but thoughtfully and constructively engaged."

Photography by Tom Altany