April 19, 2026 | Graduate profiles
Each of our graduating students has a different story, but they share a common thread: learning through dialogue and community. In this Q&A series, graduating students from IGR reflect on moments that challenged them, people who shaped them, and skills they’ll carry forward after graduation.
This April, Kristin Ferreras Lora (BA ’26) [pictured, right] will receive IGR's minor in intergroup relations and a liberatory education cord. In a short interview, Kristin looks back on her IGR experiences and the ways her involvement shaped her approach to dialogue, public health, social justice education, and fostering community.
Q: How did the IGR community shape your experience at U-M?
Kristin Ferreras Lora: As cliché as it may sound, IGR made me feel a sense of belonging at such a large and rigorous university like U-M.
I took my first IGR course, ALA 122, during the winter semester of my sophomore year. Around that time, I had decided to switch majors, from BHS pre-med to public health, after realizing that this way into healthcare wasn’t the right path for me. I uprooted what I thought was a thorough plan for my undergraduate career and broader future. At that point, I was still waiting for admission into SPH, so it was a nerve-wracking time for me!
I took ALA 122 simply to experience a course outside of my required classes at that moment and absolutely fell in love with it. I fell in love with how I could use my IGR skills within my personal life and with how easily applicable IGR content was to public health theory and practice once I was admitted into my undergraduate program. At any chance I can, I make sure to discuss the similarities between the two paths through shared reading and ideas with my professors, peers, friends, and family members! I hope to continue using my learned abilities of dialogue in my MPH and public health career.
Take us back to a moment, reading, or discussion that you feel challenged or expanded your understanding of dialogue or intergroup relations education. What was that experience like? How did it impact your time afterwards?
A moment that challenged me was speaking on experiences that can be used as learning moments. I remember one question along the lines of “Do you take the time to educate people on why their acts are harmful/do you have the patience to do so?”
As I reflected on this, I came to the grim realization that I had given up on those around me who may have different understandings of societal issues, and I had also given up on myself to be a trusted educator. I came from a place of burnout and fatigue at feeling like I was fighting people to immediately bring them to my ideals instead of meeting them where they’re at.
I continue to work on this skill, but I know it’s not easy! It truly does take patience and an open-mindedness.
What practical skills from IGR do you feel best equipped to bring into your work as a student, professional, or leader?
I feel like IGR better equipped me with patience, open-mindedness, and how to have a dialogue instead of having a conversation where our ideas don’t bounce off of each other. To learn in IGR is to collaborate, and I feel as if these skills have done me amazingly outside of the department.
How did IGR inspire your further education and/or career?
Minoring in IGR and learning about social justice education directly inspired me to pursue my MPH in health behavior and health equity. HBHE really hones in on the idea of turning theory into practice, and I absolutely love the idea of taking my two interests, public health and social justice education, and turning them into something enjoyable and fulfilling for myself and our community members.
How do you hope to take your IGR experience out into your future?
I hope that I can foster the same sense of community and trust that IGR has brought to me, my peers, other students, and faculty! I believe the topics covered within IGR have been beneficial to us all, but I also know that they’re not ones that can be so easily and casually talked about. I hope that I can be that sense of nonjudgmental presence for those in my future.
How do you think IGR shaped your personal values and growth?
Overall, I think IGR has only further ignited me to use my voice without fear of judgment. I’ve always been a shy person, often causing me to miss out on opportunities when my ideas or reasonings could be valuable to a topic being discussed. Although I still struggle with this shyness at times, IGR has taught me that no idea or question should go to waste!
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