Please visit the 2026 Democracy Summit Schedule for more information on presentations, locations, and presenters.
9:30 AM — 10:50 AM
From Isolation to Action: Building Communities of Belonging, Healing, and Action
An experiential workshop introducing a practical model for building community and strengthening democracy by cultivating relational ecosystems of belonging, healing, and collective action.
Building Bridges & Fostering Belonging
An interactive workshop exploring how self-awareness and storytelling can foster empathy, build trust across differences, and create the sense of belonging necessary for collective civic action.
From Isolation to Social Connection: Designing Service Learning Courses that Strengthen Democracy
An interactive faculty workshop that blends research-informed framing with a hands-on design session to help participants integrate service learning into their curricula through reciprocal community partnerships and structured reflection.
Time to Let Your Diamond Shine: Moving from Isolation to Social Connection Through Curiosity, Humor, and Human Intelligence (HI)
An interactive session that uses storytelling and hands-on activities to explore how curiosity, creativity, and "human reasoning" foster the psychological safety necessary for authentic learning and democratic belonging.
Gemeinschaftsgefühl and The Pursuit of Happiness
Blending Alfred Adler’s concept of social interest and evidence-based positive psychology interventions, we will explore powerful strategies for strengthening personal well-being through community engagement.
Creating Inclusive Learning Spaces
A practical workshop focused on creating inclusive spaces and specialized accommodations for neurodivergent learners through community guidelines, student connection, and activities that foster human connection.
Creating Community in Non-Traditional Students from UM Housing
Interactive workshop that explores the unique factors affecting non-traditional students within UM Housing and engages participants in a hands-on design activity aimed at fostering authentic community bridges across diverse demographics.
The Hidden Curriculum: Making Belonging Visible in Democratic Spaces
An interactive, hands-on workshop exploring the unspoken rules and norms that shape who feels they belong and can meaningfully participate in civic, academic, and community spaces—and how making those invisible barriers visible can foster more inclusive democratic engagement.
Disagreement for the Sake of Heaven: Creating dialog amidst controversy, informed by Jewish traditional practices
In this interactive session, we explore how to talk with each other even when we disagree by considering Bible, rabbinic commentary, and contemporary sources about the qualities of argumentation.
How We Open The Door
Interactive dance session (no experience necessary) leading to a discussion about barriers to social connection, how we break them down, and why engaged, connected communities are vital to a healthy democracy.
Uniting Communities Through Sport
Uniting Communities Through Sport is a dynamic panel discussion exploring how sport can strengthen democratic values by creating a sense of belonging and bringing people together across social, cultural, and political divides.
11:00 AM — 12:20 PM
From Classroom to Community: How Community-Based Learning Builds Social Connection and Civic Life
This interactive session explores how intentional partnerships between schools, businesses, and community organizations can strengthen civic engagement, build social connection, and expand real-world learning opportunities for students, with practical examples and strategies participants can apply in their own communities.
Fostering Social Connection Through Electoral Transparency
This session explores the role of nonpartisan election observation in building public trust and features a hands-on simulation where participants use real-world data collection tools to experience how collaborative civic engagement strengthens electoral transparency.
Civically Engaged: Choosing Dialogue Over Conflict
A student-led panel featuring leaders from Turning Point UM and College Democrats demonstrating how open dialogue and mutual understanding can bridge political divides to strengthen the campus community.
How Playing Games Builds Resiliency
A session exploring how the trust and mutual reliance developed within the competitive esports environment build a community-first culture that fosters real-world resilience and lasting social connection.
A Beginning in Birmingham: Vincent Harding, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Importance of Meeting with Your Enemy
An interactive exploration of the behind-the-scenes negotiations of the 1963 Birmingham campaign, highlighting the pivotal role of Black Mennonite activist Vincent Harding and the specific philosophies used to bring opposing sides together for a common cause.
From Belonging to Action: Social Connection, Climate, and Democracy in Practice
This interactive workshop will familiarize you with local climate solutions and help you create a personal action plan for plugging in and growing momentum.
Democracy Across Borders: Why International Connection and Perception Matter
This interactive session features personal reflections and facilitated dialogue with international students to explore how cross-cultural relationships on campus reduce isolation and build the foundational social trust necessary for global democratic resilience.
Where We Learn, Who We Become: Pedagogical strategies to foster social connection and democratic engagement
A panel showcasing democratic teaching approaches that use place-based learning, visual rhetoric, and Indigenous values to cultivate civic engagement and strengthen social connections through literature, art, and community partnerships.
Art as a Pillar of Democracy
A reflective salon that reframes the arts as a vital public policy priority and a generative force for democracy, examining how cultural expression addresses social isolation and sustains the collective wellbeing of a flourishing society.
Neurodivergent Inclusive Living Communities
This presentation advocates for a neurodiversity-affirming paradigm that shifts from deficit-based models to a strengths-based approach, offering practical communication strategies and campus resource highlights to foster a genuine sense of belonging for neurodivergent individuals.
How Student Government Has Shaped Community at The University of Montana
ASUMs Marketing and Outreach Committee is leading a Trivia Style game highlighting ASUM’s community involvement currently and in history to bring awareness of the impact student government can make on campus.
Designing Our Future Together: Community Engagement and Trust Building with the City of Missoula
Join the City of Missoula to hear about the value of City planning processes, meeting the community where they are, and the ways you can give input to the policies that affect your life.
International Social Connection Through the Peace Corps
Democracy depends on our ability to initiate and sustain relationships with those different than ourselves, and the Peace Corps offers a unique experience founded on building those very skills and abilities that will last a lifetime.
The Grid: The intersection of Acceptance & Truth in Building Authentic Relationships
An experiential workshop that uses four distinct activity quadrants to explore how varying levels of acceptance and truth impact human interaction, guiding participants toward building authentic relationships through feedback, boundaries, and mutual respect.
Solidarity is an Action: Finding Ourselves and Our Purpose Through Civic Engagement
This workshop frames social connection as a practiced, collective skill that builds democratic power by moving people—especially alongside unhoused communities—from isolation into sustained, trust-based organizing for shared goals and systemic change.
Locating Community in Abstraction: A Conversation on Artificial Intelligence
A cross-disciplinary panel featuring instructors from various scholarly backgrounds who will engage in a facilitated dialogue about the impact of AI on the human experience, exploring how curious discourse and critical inquiry can build collective resiliency in the face of disruptive technology.
Connection in Action: Building a Culture of Care Across the University of Montana
Members of the Wellbeing Advisory Group (WAG) share practical strategies for embedding social connection into institutional roles and explore how cross-campus collaboration sustains a culture of care and belonging at the University of Montana.
2:00 PM — 3:20 PM
Lessons from the field; an experiential workshop highlighting opportunities for understanding in real situations of public conflict
This participatory, interactive workshop re-enacts an actual Missoula County land use hearing in order to demonstrate how conflict can both hinder and facilitate deeper understanding.
TAKE UP SPACE: Guerilla Gatherings on Public Lands
Public space becomes powerful when people activate it; discover how communities turn shared spaces into sites of belonging and collective action.
Creating Community For Students, By Students
An interactive workshop where participants analyze residence hall data to design tailored, student-led programming that moves away from "one size fits all" events to foster intentional community building within UM Housing.
Strengthening Belonging in Community
A collaborative working session that engages participants in identifying barriers to belonging and co-creating practical strategies that strengthen connection, participation, and democracy.
From Isolation to Belonging: What a Village in North Macedonia Taught Me About Social Connection and Democracy
Interactive workshop drawing on Peace Corps experience in North Macedonia, using storytelling, reflection, and dialogue to explore how belonging, psychological safety, and sharing our stories strengthen connection and democratic life.
New Approaches to Democracy Teaching and Learning
An interactive demonstration of the "Third Way Civics" (3WC) pedagogical approach, featuring a student-faculty panel followed by a collaborative discussion of historical texts to show how this method fosters intellectual curiosity and informed conversation on challenging civic topics.
Building Intergenerational Social Connections for Democracy
An interactive session to bring together participants from a variety of ages and backgrounds to engage in thoughtful conversation around the importance of community
The Rule of Law: Building Blocks of Democracy
Interactive, experiential session designed to encourage a deeper understanding of the rule of law and its connection to our democratic system.
Cultivating Community Partnerships for Holistic Student Success
Interactive session exploring how campus and community partnerships transform the resources available to first-generation and low-income students.
All Aboard: Building Connections Through Passenger Rail
Interactive and fast-paced session exploring how passenger rail can reconnect and revitalize communities across Montana and beyond.
Museums & the Semiquincentennial: Democracy in Third Places
This session explores how museums serve as "civic laboratories" for the American semiquincentennial, featuring research from the Nationhood Lab and interactive activities designed to foster empathy, wrestle with national contradictions, and strengthen the ongoing American experiment.
Belonging Across Borders: The Science and Lived Experience of Social Connection
An interactive session exploring how belonging and social connection shape individual participation and contribute to a healthy democracy.
What are our local news needs?
This session introduces the newly formed Montana chapter of Press Forward, a national initiative to revitalize local journalism, inviting participants to identify critical news gaps and brainstorm solutions that will directly shape the project's priorities in the state.
What is empathy?
This session will explore the conceptual history of empathy by looking at various approaches to the phenomenon. Using philosophy and psychology, we will peel back the layers to try to uncover what it means to be an empathic being.
Please Forgive Me: I'm A Recovering Millennial
An interactive workshop that equips leaders with practical tools to navigate power dynamics and bridge generational and ability-based divides through self-reflection, communication skills, and intentional relationship-building.
From Isolation to Connection: Rebooting Human Intelligence (HI) in the Age of AI
This interactive session explores how "Human Intelligence" skills—such as empathy and critical thinking—can be rebooted to combat digital isolation, featuring a practical application of the 5 WHYs framework to move participants from judgment to curiosity and strengthen democratic connection.
Trust Me Film & Speaker
Featuring a screening of the film "Trust Me," this session explores the critical need for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) to combat online manipulation and polarization, providing participants with practical tools to become credible, fact-based "citizen journalists" who protect democratic discourse.