‘Unity Dinner: Hours of Hope’ on Tuesday, April 18

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy continues its Unity Dinner menu, a series that aims to bring students, faculty and staff together in community and conversation around our society’s most pressing issues.   

Unity Dinner: Hours of Hope will be on Tuesday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m. in Buttrick Hall 123. 

The second Unity Dinner will center on the project’s pillar, “Hours of Hope: Case Studies in American Progress.” This pillar focuses on strides made and being made toward a better future. Participants will explore the concepts of hope and progress and what each of those ideas means, personally and within the larger context of America.  

The Unity Dinner will be led by topic scholars Vanderbilt American studies faculty Mario Rewers and James Byrd, Vanderbilt Divinity School professor of American religious history, as well as Unity Project Program Director for Intercultural Engagement Shevonne Nelson Dillingham. The conversation will follow agreed-upon rules of engagement to encourage civil discourse and open discussion. Vanderbilt community members will be able to share their knowledge and worldview in an environment that centers transformative communication.  

Additional Unity Dinners will be scheduled for the fall semester. 

*This conversation will be filmed by Nashville Public Television, to be used in an upcoming project in partnership with the Unity Project. Only the conversation’s facilitators will have microphones, and attendees will have the option to remain off camera.  

Read more about the topic scholars here: 

Mario Rewers is a senior lecturer in American studies and public policy studies. He teaches courses on topics ranging from the history of free speech to the ethics of policymaking. He received his B.A. from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt. 

James P. Byrd is a professor of American religious history, Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair of Wesleyan Studies and associate dean for graduate education and research. His publications include A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood: The Bible and the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2021), Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2013) and his latest book, The Story of Religion in America: An Introduction (WJK, 2021), co-authored with James Hudnut-Beumler. He is writing a book on the assassination and sacred legacy of Abraham Lincoln, under contract with Oxford University Press. 

Shevonne Nelson Dillingham (they/she) has more than 20 years of experience helping public and private organizations reach their diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Nelson Dillingham currently serves as the director for intercultural engagement within the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy. They have a wealth of experience in higher education and have focused most recently on helping students, faculty and staff to learn about socially constructed difference and systems of oppression and to envision places and spaces that better reflect equality.