What is the Role of Business to Reduce Polarization in Our Society?
Over the past decade, two trends have collided: polarization in our society has steadily increased in its breadth and severity, and business leaders have been asked to take a more active role in society’s issues. Is that part of the problem, or can business be a force for good to combat polarization and help us find common ground? This expert panel will explore that question and lead a robust conversation with all meeting attendees.
Meet the Faculty: Amanda G. McKendree
Amanda G. McKendree
Associate Teaching Professor of Management and Arthur F. and Mary J. O’Neil Director of The Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication, Department of Management & Organization
Dr. Amanda G. McKendree teaches business communication, strategic communication, and corporate communication at the University of Notre Dame. Professor McKendree’s research examines crisis communication, conflict communication, and the influence of rhetoric on organizational identity. She is published in the SAGE Encyclopedia of Identity, Business Communication Quarterly, Teaching Ideas for the Basic Communication Course, Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, and Review of Communication. She is a coauthor of Conflict Between Persons: The Origins of Leadership (2018).
She is a member of the Arthur Page Society, Management Communication Association, National Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association, and Pennsylvania Communication Association. She currently serves as First Vice President of the Eastern Communication Association and is a past Chair of the Communication Ethics Division of the National Communication Association and past President of the Pennsylvania Communication Association. She is also a member of the executive committee for the Midwest Regional Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Consortium. She is the recipient of the 2018 Carroll Arnold Distinguished Service Award from the Pennsylvania Communication Association and the 2019 Faculty Service Award for the Department of Management & Organization, Mendoza College of Business.
When not serving her students and the discipline, she dedicates her time to Strikeout PSP, an awareness and fundraising initiative for progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative brain disease. Based in southwestern Pennsylvania, Strikeout PSP was founded by Amanda in 2017.
Meet the Guests
Bob Feldman is the founder of The Dialogue Project, a global initiative to explore what role business can play to reduce polarization and improve civil discourse in our society. The program, founded by Bob in 2019, is now housed at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Kristin Hansen is co-founder of the Civic Health Project, an initiative dedicated to reducing toxic partisan polarization and enabling healthier public discourse and decision-making across our citizenry, politics and media. Kristin also lectures at Stanford University.
Stacy Sharpe is senior vice president of corporate relations at Allstate. Stacy is the leader of Allstate‘s involvement with the Aspen Institute on The Better Arguments Project, a remarkable, award-winning program.
Additional Resources
View the Event
Subscribe to the ThinkND podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Google.
Featured Speakers:
- Amanda G. McKendree, Associate Teaching Professor of Management and Arthur F. and Mary J. O’Neil Director of The Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication, Department of Management & Organization, University of Notre Dame
- Bob Feldman, Founder, The Dialogue Project
- Kristin Hansen, Co-Founder, the Civic Health Project
- Stacy Sharpe, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations, Allstate