Intergroup Dialogue Training Hub (InDi Training Hub)

Affiliate Faculty

The Strength of Shared Leadership
Affiliate Faculty are essential partners in advancing the work of the Intergroup Dialogue Hub. They bring deep expertise, critical perspective, and a shared commitment to equity-minded, dialogic practice. As collaborators and consultants, Affiliate Faculty contribute to the design, facilitation, and ongoing refinement of our programs, while also helping us stay responsive to the evolving needs of our campus communities. Their partnership strengthens our collective capacity to foster meaningful dialogue, deepen learning, and support more just and connected institutional spaces.

Beth Douthirt Cohen, PhD (she or they)
Head of Strategic Initiatives for Undergraduate Studies 
Clinical Faculty
University of Maryland School of Public Health
For over 25 years, Beth has devoted her life to creating dialogical spaces for racial, disability, LGBTQ+, and gender justice and healing—and to challenging the oppressive tactics that continue to shape our world and erode our relationships. She works with leaders and students to cultivate the practical skills, somatic awareness, and compassion needed to transform ourselves and our communities, grounding her work in collective transformation and healing. Beth has facilitated and led intergroup dialogue training throughout the United States, as well as in Kenya and Rwanda, partnering with communities experiencing historical and contemporary conflict. Currently at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, Beth's coaching, research, and teaching invite people to explore how we heal—both individually and collectively—from the trauma of identity-based prejudice, and how we build authentic, durable solidarity across power and identity differences.

At the heart of Beth's work is a deep belief in our shared capacity to love, grow, connect, and create meaningful change.

Ileana Gonzalez, PhD (she/her/ella)
Assistant Clinical Professor
University of Maryland College of Education
Dr. Ileana Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education (CHSE) and the program director for the School Counseling Program. She gained extensive experience in the field of K-12 education as a teacher and school counselor working with Caribbean populations in South Florida. She earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2013. Her identity as a first-generation college student and daughter of refugees informs her beliefs in equity and access to a quality education for all students, particularly those from marginalized populations. She has published and presented nationally on social justice action in schools and in higher education settings and on multicultural competence and antiracist training for counselors. Her research interests include multicultural and antiracist counselor education, cultural competence in counseling and social justice action in urban school settings. 

Meghna Chandrasekaran, B.A., B.S. (she/her)
Graduate Student Assistant
Meghna is a Graduate Student Assistant, providing administrative and training support at the IGD Training Hub. She is a first year Masters student in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy Program, Student Affairs concentration. Her research interests include supporting South Asian students across generational status to and disrupt unique power hierarchies that shape the experience for the diaspora in a higher education context. With a strong dialogue facilitation background rooted in the idea that dialogue as a form of democracy, she strives to build and foster spaces where people can come together, deepen mutual understanding, and create shared meanings.