Dialogue is a superpower. Learn more about courses that will shape your Michigan experience and change your life.
Course descriptions are updated mid-semester prior to each subsequent semester. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) count toward the Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit in Intergroup Relations award.
ALA/PSYCH/SOC 122: Intergroup Dialogues (3 credits)*
In Intergroup Dialogues, students will participate in semi-structured face-to-face meetings across different social identity groups led by peer facilitators. Though topics will vary by semester, topics may include race, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. Through readings, in-class exercises with thoughtful debriefs, and participant journals and other assignments, students will explore their own identities, build relationships across different identities and learn about pertinent issues facing various social identity groups on campus and in society. Read more →
ALA 170: Special Topics, Social Identity, Social Inequality & Social Media: An Introduction to Intergroup Relations (3 credits)
This introductory course will provide a survey of sociological, social-psychological, and social justice education theory as it relates to social identity and intergroup relations. Race, class, gender, citizenship, and sexual orientation -among other social identity categories- will be explored, as well as corresponding systems of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, etc.) Read more →
ALA 171: Making the Most of Michigan (1 credit)*
What are you hoping to gain from your time at Michigan? To take advantage of your experience, ALA 171: Making the Most of Michigan, is a 7-week activity-based course designed to help students get involved, meet people, and present themselves professionally to the world at large. Read more →
ALA 220, PSYCH/SOC 218: Foundations of Intergroup Relations (3 credits)*
This introductory course will examine the history of various social identity groups in the United States including identities based on race/ethnicity, gender, religion, socio‐economic class, sexual orientation, and ability status. This course will also examine the theory behind how social identity groups form, and how bias develops (prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination). We will also explore how people develop an understanding of their own social identity group membership, how groups are impacted by privilege and power dynamics, and how to develop advocacy for groups to which one does not belong. Students can expect to participate in class through individual and group projects as well as a class discussion. While there will be some lecture, this course is primarily interactive and activity-based. Read more.
ALA 228: Intergroup Conflict and Co-existence: Religion, Ethnicity, and Culture (3 Credits)
This course will examine examples of social conflict based on religion, ethnicity and culture. The course will provide an overview of interdisciplinary theories that help to understand the nature of such conflict (gender, social identity, limited resources, psychological, neurological, communication, anthropological, political science, sociological), and will then review current coalition building and coexistence work among various religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. Read more →
ALA 270: Special Topics in Intergroup Dialogue (2 credits)
This course is designed to accompany ALA 321: Practicum in Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation, and can only be elected in conjunction with ALA 321. Students who opt to take ALA 270 along with their ALA 321 course will be afforded a deeper dive into applied work in facilitating intergroup dialogues. Read more.
ALA/SOC 320, PSYCH 310: Training in Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation (3 credits)*
This course is designed to give students a foundation for the effective facilitation of structured multicultural intergroup dialogues as a social justice education tool. It is intended for students who wish to facilitate intergroup dialogues in a future semester. The topics of this course include group facilitation skills and their applications in inclusive, diverse settings; group processes and dynamics involving social power; social identity group development; prejudice and stereotyping and their effects on groups; difference and dominance, and the nature of social oppression. Read more.
ALA/SOC 321, PSYCH 311: Practicum in Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation (4 credits)*
This course follows "Training in Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation" and requires applied work in facilitating intergroup dialogues. Students will meet in weekly seminars. Read more.
ALA 322, SOC/PSYCH 324: Advanced Practicum in Intergroup Relations (1-4 Credits)
This course is for students who are doing advanced applied work in Intergroup Relations. This includes facilitating intergroup dialogues for a second or third time or being workshop facilitators in supervised IGR or social justice education settings. The course combines the experiential facilitation component with the structured integration of intergroup relations theory. Read more.
ALA 323: IGR Directed Study (1-4 credits)*
At The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan, Independent Study is a planned, highly individualized format, not addressable through any other course. Independent studies are proposed in writing by the student on this standard form, accepted for supervision by an IGR instructor, and approved by the student's IGR academic adviser prior to the beginning of the semester in which the student wishes to enroll. Read more.
ALA 324: Facilitation in Community Settings (3 credits)*
This course prepares students to be facilitative leaders in campus and community organizations throughout their undergraduate years at U-M and beyond. Specifically, this course will focus on self-care and community-care as necessities for effective facilitation. Read more.
ALA 329: IGR Research Practicum (2 credits)*
This course provides an overview of research methods used in intergroup relations, with a special focus on intergroup dialogue. Students will examine research using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, and will discuss what each method provides in understanding how identities play a role in intergroup relations, how power and privilege are addressed and how group dynamics and processes affect outcomes of intergroup interactions. Students will develop a research proposal and present at a research symposium. Read more.
ALA 429/ PSYCH 411/ SOC 471: Senior Capstone (3 credits)*
This course supports students as facilitative leaders in campus and community organizations throughout their undergraduate years at U-M and beyond. Specifically, this course will focus on self-care and community-care as necessities for effective facilitation. By connecting facilitation to traditions of social justice education and activism, we’ll illuminate methods of care that past and present facilitators employ[ed] to create group cohesion, guide groups through challenging processes, and maintain and support their own wellness, as well as that of the community. Read more.
ALA 471: Leadership and Facilitation in Community Building (1-3 credits)*
Leadership and Facilitation in Community Building is a course for undergraduates who facilitate a section of ALA 171: Making the Most of Michigan.
Each ALA 471 class prepares facilitators for the weekly ALA 171 sessions and connects their facilitation experiences to their broader academic goals and campus involvement. Read more.
ALA 472: Advanced Leadership and Facilitation in Community (3 credits)*
This course will be offered to undergraduates who have previously facilitated ALA 171 “Making the Most of Michigan.” ALA 472 will focus on theories of student identity development and best practices of group facilitation, and role modeling for new ALA 171 facilitators, each of which will assist them in providing effective leadership for ALA 171, student organizations, and teams in their professional careers. Read more.
*Can be counted towards the Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit in Intergroup Relations award
Register for IGR courses through the LSA Course Guide