Warm Welcome: D. Alvarez

Photo of Danny Alvarez

D. recently joined IGR's staff as an Interim Student Life Program Manager. His focus is on managing the CommonGround program, teaching IGR's training course and furthering CommonGround's research agenda. D. is excited to dive into his work with the CommonGround team and he hopes to see CommonGround spread into new areas of the U-M community.

D. graduated from Earlham College in 2008 with a B.A. in African-American Studies and from the University of Michigan in 2012 with a Masters of Social Work. During his studies, D. focused on community organizing, primarily with youth in Detroit.

D. first became involved in IGR four years ago when he was brought in as a trainer for the Summer Youth Dialogues. He also served as a GSI for IGR's training class during his Masters program. D's first experience with dialogue dates back to when he was a student at Ann Arbor's Community High School and participated in a dialogue on race. Says D "Ever since then, I have been passionate about looking at the intersection of identity work and education and organizing/activism."

Outside of work, D loves playing soccer, cooking, eating food with  his friends and family, reading, and winning at any card game. D has lived in six different states over time. He loves having four seasons but noted that the weather in Hawaii is perfect every day!