News

May 3, 2023

In 2014, Stephanie Chang (MPP/MSW '14) was approached by her community-organizing colleague, then-State Representative, now Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, to run for office. Chang wondered if as an Asian American woman she could represent what was a majority African American and Latino district in the Michigan House.

March 21, 2023

Penny Kane and Maria Tarakhovsky were honored with UM-Dearborn's Social Justice Advocate Award. Both Kane and Tarakhovsky have facilitated dialogues in ALA 171, Making the Most of Michigan, with The Program on Intergroup Relations.

March 1, 2023

For 24 hours on Giving Blueday—U-M's annual day of giving coming up on March 15th—gifts to IGR will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000!

February 6, 2023

The Ford School of Public Policy is recognizing IGR alum and State Senator Stephanie Chang (MPP/MSW '14) with its top alumni award for dedication to excellence in public service.

December 2022

Last term, students from across IGR dialogue courses came together for our final celebration, where they were honored with certificates and spoke about the impact of the program on their lives

December 2021

Introduction to Intergroup Dialogues, 1st edition, edited by Stephanie Hicks is available to order. The book is required course material for IGR's ALA/PSYCH/SOC 122 dialogue course and is published and distributed by Cognella, Inc.

August 31, 2021

Introducing our cohort: Meg Dobson, Sabrina Ervin, Jennifer Eshelman, Chris Gale, Clara Gamalski, Karri Grob, Tina Jordan, Felicia McCrary, and Danyelle Reynolds.

August 31, 2021

Welcome to fall 2021 at The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan. If this past year has taught us anything, it is that our work as a social justice education program is needed more than ever.

July 22, 2021

Educating students about the history of race in the U.S. is a matter of safety. For Chaddrick James-Gallaway—University of Michigan alum and former facilitator for the Program on Intergroup Relations—there was a disconnect between school policies that were implemented under the guise of making the school safer and who that safety was meant for.

May 1, 2021

Javier Solorzano Parada is the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Alumnx Award (OAA). He will be presented with the award virtually at IGR's 18th Annual Award Ceremony and Graduation Celebration. Javier has been previously featured on IGR's podcast DialogueUP!

March 2021

It is with profound sadness that we write this letter condemning the horrendous crimes in Atlanta this past week in which eight people, including six women of Asian descent were murdered.

August 31, 2020

We're delighted to welcome our incoming Community of Scholars cohort: Angie Stewart, Ashley Richardson, Christine Modey, Deborah S. Willis, Jessica Garcia, Joshua Thurman, Mikalia Dennis, Priscila Papias, and Sonia Joshi.

June 2, 2020

We, here at IGR are heartbroken and enraged over the events of the past week. For some of us, George Floyd’s murder in the hands of those who are supposed to protect us is an old – and personal – story. For all of us, it marks a new opportunity to recommit to the work we do every day – combatting racism and other oppressions in all forms.

April 27, 2020

Michael Gardner is the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Alumnx Award (OAA) along with Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson. He was presented with the award virtually at IGR's 17th Annual Award Ceremony and Graduation Celebration.

April 27, 2020

Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson is the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Alumnx Award (OAA) along with Michael Gardner. She was presented with the award virtually at IGR's 17th Annual Award Ceremony and Graduation Celebration. Riana has been previously featured on IGR's podcast DialogueUP!

April 21, 2020

Ever since the return from spring break, life has not been the same for University of Michigan students. My name is Smitty (they/them), a first-year RC-LSA student, and the Writer/Photographer Student Lead for IGR, MESA, and the Spectrum Center.

December 10, 2019

For many people, the holidays are a great time of celebration. Huge pine trees with lights and ornaments, Santa meeting children at nearly every mall, reindeer-printed wrapping paper… or, that is, for those who celebrate Christmas.

November 12, 2019

Small, hurtful actions impact our campus every day, whether it’s from the professors who schedule tests on religious or cultural holidays, the coworkers who don’t use an intern’s correct gender pronouns, or the students who make assumptions about a classmate based on their appearance.

October 22, 2019

Culture isn’t a costume. It’s been said time and time again, but each year cases of inappropriate and offensive Halloween costumes still seem to arise.

September 24, 2019

Bhoomika Gupta (she/her/hers) and Noah Bonello (he/him/his) both became involved in The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) on a whim. Gupta, a junior studying psychology, took a dialogue course to fulfill distribution requirements while Bonello, a junior studying computer science, signed up for a foundations course because it fit into his schedule.