Wildcat Dialogues
Wildcat Dialogues will not take place during the 2025-2026 academic year to allow the planning committee time to enhance and improve the event and to continue to meet the needs of first-year students at K-State.
First-year students at K-State seeking opportunities to connect with peers through a shared experience should check out 'Cats Connect.
Whether you're looking to meet new people, deepen existing friendships, or simply engage in thoughtful dialogue about wellness and belonging, this event offers a welcoming environment to connect and learn. Come ready to listen, share, and be part of building the supportive community that makes us all better together.
Participating in a 'Cats Connect group helps you build community, practice active listening, build empathy and understanding for others' stories, and so much more. Grow your perspective and meet new Wildcats for one hour a week, for just six weeks.
About Wildcat Dialogues
All new and first-year K-State students come together for one night of meaningful dialogue and building connections. View photos from the fall 2024 event on Facebook at these links: Event photos and Group selfies.
What participants do
- Learn how to create communities of belonging
- Build cross-cultural relationships through meaningful dialogue
- Engage in active listening, empathy and perspective-taking
- Build your skillset to understand cultural differences and similarities
How you’ll use it later
- Identify tangible action steps you can take to create a community of belonging for all at K-State.
- Recognize the ways in which your cultural and social identities make an impact on how you see and experience the world.
- Recognize the ways in which others’ cultural and social identities differ from your own and how they see and experience the world differently, like you.
- Demonstrate authentic curiosity and empathy when engaging in meaningful dialogues across difference.
What facilitators do
K-State students, faculty and staff are invited to join us as facilitators. Facilitators help the small groups focus on deliberate conversation to build intentional connections for intercultural learning and leadership development. Training is provided and facilitators will get a free Wildcat Dialogues T-shirt.
Highlight Your Experience
As a participant or facilitator, you might be thinking about how to best share this development opportunity in professional environments like LinkedIn or on a resume.
Questions?
Read the FAQs or email Mariya Vaughan at mbjv@ksu.edu or Tamara Bauer at tamara@ksu.edu.
“Including people goes beyond inclusion. It is also affirming their identity, and making changes to address those needs.”
“Wildcat Dialogues made me more open to learning about people different from myself.”
“This experience helped me come out of my comfort zone.”
This event is coordinated in partnership between the Staley School of Leadership, K-State First, the K-State Student Union, the Office of Access and Opportunity, and the Department of Student Belonging and Inclusion, Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, and the DOW Center for Multicultural and Community Studies, alongside a large committee representing students, faculty and staff. This collaboration represents the commitment by our campus community to create a culture of belonging for all.
2024 Committee
- Jenae Anderson
- Sydney Andreano
- Tamara Bauer
- Graciela Berumen
- Maggie Billman
- Austin Drake
- Brandon Haddock
- Paulicia Hungerford
- Rory Jenkins
- Sarah Jones
- Zanete Malan
- Delaney Michel
- Michael McClure
- Barbara Mitchell
- Teaghan Mortan
- Ellissa Neill
- PJ O'Niel
- Ryan Pope
- Mary-Joy Pugh
- Paul Snider
- Midhat Tugoo
- Mariya Vaughan
- Nicole Wagoner
- Megan Ward
- Corey Williamson
- Rita Woster
Staley School of Leadership
252 Leadership Studies Building
1300 Mid-Campus Dr. N.
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6085
leadership@ksu.edu