This article examines Ronald Barnett's notion of an ontological turn in higher education as a language for framing the current existential demands and emerging learning needs of young adults. After presenting different interpretations of ontology, I make a case for how contemplative approaches can be applied to communication-based higher education classes to support ontological learning processes and outcomes. I then introduce a case study, drawn from a graduate course entitled "Dialogue Processes", that I have taught over the past seven years at University of Massachusetts (Boston). Here I illustrate how a contemplative approach to instruction helps develop conversational leadership, a central learning objective of the course. (Contains 1 figure.)