Working closely with Cornell’s academic units and leadership, Adi leads and implements campus-wide educational interventions, aiming to integrate student development principles into curricula, pedagogy, and academic support services, and to foster the growth of Cornell students as engaged and responsible members and leaders of their communities. By creating optimal conditions for multi-phase processes for faculty, students, and student-facing staff, and focusing on areas such as human connection, curiosity, and pluralism, Adi supports change at personal, interpersonal, and institutional levels. Adi has extensive experience in a variety of educational and academic settings, working with both educators and students on identity development, dialogue, experiential learning, leadership, and collaborative change. Adi holds a B.A. in History from Tel Aviv University, M.A. in Cultural Production from Brandeis University, and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cornell University.

Colleen earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in American literature from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a B.A. in English from Clemson University. She is the author of The Politics of Privacy (Ohio State UP, 2020), a study of literary technologies of racial surveillance in contemporary American fiction. She comes to CDP from West Point, where she was an associate professor of English and director of a multi-disciplinary fellows program focused on intentional communication and peer mentorship. Invested in cultivating curiosity and deliberate inquiry on campus, she supports CDP’s mission through teaching and curricular development.

Jazlin was first introduced to CDP’s work as an undergraduate student, and she has held various positions in CDP since. In her current role, she develops sustained educational processes that empower participants to value, connect, and communicate effectively about their differences. She teaches CDP courses, including Dialogue Across Political Differences (UNILWYL 1515), Intergroup Dialogue (EDUC/ILRID 2610), and Dialogue Across Differences for Public Policy (PUBPOL 2880/5881). She also leads many of CDP’s co-curricular efforts, including those for peer leaders and mentors. Jazlin holds an M.P.A. from the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell and a B.A. from Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences.

Rachel arrived at Cornell as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development, where her dissertation focused on the development of purpose in life and identity among college students and adults. Through subsequent roles in a nonprofit organization and the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, she worked with youth work practitioners to use data as a tool for understanding and informing programmatic decisions. In January 2017, Rachel participated in the second CDP session for graduate/professional students and postdocs; it was a watershed moment for her. She’s been grateful to continue her involvement with CDP since then, first as a co-facilitator and coach and now as associate director and senior lecturer. Supervising our research and assessment efforts, Rachel works to understand CDP’s transformative impact on individual participants and the campus community. She also collaborates on the development and delivery of meaningful learning opportunities, including tailored programs for faculty and student-facing staff, a 7-week course for MBA students, and undergraduate courses about purpose in life.

As a research aide, Shannon supports CDP’s research and assessment efforts, helping the team understand the center’s impact on participants and the broader campus community. She joins CDP after graduating from Rutgers University’s Honors College with a B.S. in Psychology and Exercise Science, where she was a research assistant in the Regulation, Action, and Motivated Perception Lab. Through this role, her honors thesis explored the psychological mechanisms behind political polarization. Alongside that theoretical work, she interned with the Rutgers Center for Disability Sports, Health, and Wellness, contributing to change through hands-on advocacy work to implement accessibility and inclusion on campus. That combination of understanding the mechanisms behind growing division across difference and directly contributing to change is what drew her to CDP.

Stephen participated in the first iteration of CDP’s course for graduate students and has worked for CDP in various positions since. He focuses on the development of written resources for CDP’s programming and outreach, as well as new applications of CDP’s educational model in both academic and professional contexts. He completed his Ph.D. in Literatures at English at Cornell, with minors in American Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Past teaching experience includes courses on workplace leadership, dialogue for public policy, Asian American science fiction, and Shakespeare.