Grounding for the Greater Good: Cultivating Patience to Interrupt Reactivity and Racial Bias

Bridging Differences in Higher Education: Research-Based Practices that Build Belonging: Skill-Sharing Session #2


  • Venue: Online
  • Date: December 5, 2025
  • Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT / 2:00-3:00 PM ET
  • Price: Free
  • Register

“In our culture, higher education is one of the only places where there can actually be real conversations about difficult topics,” says Beth Douthirt-Cohen, a public health professor at University of Maryland, College Park. In 2017, the university brought in Douthirt-Cohen to build the capacity of students, faculty, and staff to engage with differences in power and racial identity in healthy, ethical ways. 

They found that when we’re equipped with mindfulness tools, it is possible to make higher ed a space where we can have a really difficult conversation and stay in it. In fact, mindfulness can help us feel connected to our agency. Instead of reacting, we get grounded and find the patience we need to make choices and even interrupt unconscious bias.

Join us for an interactive conversation with Douthirt-Cohen and psychologist Sarah A. Schnitker (Baylor University), who will draw from her research to explain how grounding practices like these cultivate our patience and exercise our curiosity, courage, and empathy. Hosted by Juliana Tafur, GGSC’s Bridging Differences Program Director.

Free! Designed for higher education, open to all. 

Register here to reserve your spot. 

Can’t make it live? No problem–register anyway and we’ll send you the recording and the playbook, plus other resources to help you foster stronger connections and build belonging on your campus.

To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact: greater@berkeley.edu.

  • Juliana Tafur

    Juliana Tafur directs the Bridging Differences program at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, advancing skills and strategies to connect across geography, race, religion, politics, and more. She’s spent more than a decade designing experiences that foster understanding and belonging, both as a social entrepreneur/workshop creator, and as an Emmy-nominated storyteller. A TEDx speaker, she leads science-based trainings for campuses, organizations, and communities, and makes bridge-building practical and accessible through partnerships, multimedia content, speaking engagements, and workshops. Juliana is an honors graduate of Northwestern University and a 2021–22 Obama Foundation Scholar at Columbia University.