News

IGR is proud to announce a grant award for IGR Lecturer Timothy Corvidae. Timothy holds appointments in IGR, The Global Scholars Program, and The Center for Global and Intercultural Studies (CGIS).

This is the first in a series of “Alumni Voices” articles from IGR. The aim of the series is to provide alumni with a space to share their stories, and their journey from being an IGR student to where they are in their lives currently.

Sharon Jacobs

IGR is proud to announce an upcoming major book publication, co-edited by IGR's Dr. Adrienne Dessel. Dr. Dessel's book, titled Conservative Christian Beliefs and Sexual Orientation in Social Work: Privilege, Oppression and the Pursuit of Human Rights, is slated for publication in Spring 2014 and includes four chapters on intergroup dialogue. It is co-edited by Rebecca M. Bolen at the University of Tennessee.

From the book description:

We in IGR are very proud of our own Adrienne Dessel. Dr. Dessel received the Alumni Special Recognition Award for written work from her alma mater, Simmons College. Dr. Dessel co-wrote the winning article Intergroup Dialogue Courses on Sexual Orientation: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Experiences and Outcomes with Michael Woodford and Naomi Warren in a 2011 issue of the Journal of Homosexuality.

The award description is as follows:

Joe Person’s passion for IGR began when he enrolled in a dialogue on sexual orientation during his second-year in the winter of 2004. Before graduating from U-M in 2006 with a BA in English Literature, he completed the IGR training program for dialogue facilitation. Following graduation, Joe joined the IGR team full-time serving as the Program Assistant for over two years and in 2011 he earned his Master’s degree in Public Policy from U-M. He currently works as a Research Associate & Project Evaluator for the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Chicago.

For this profile, we are featuring two very dedicated and long-time members of the IGR community: Adriana Aldana and Davin Phoenix. These talented individuals have been involved in IGR over the last several years in numerous roles: as Graduate Student Instructors, Researchers, a Program Manager (Adriana), and as dedicated volunteers for IGR events. Both Adriana and Davin just received their Ph.D.s from U-M this summer, and have started the next phase of their lives in Irvine, California.

For the past year, IGR has had the wonderful fortune of hosting Dr. Manal Yazbak-Abu Ahmad, a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Nazareth, Israel.  Dr. Yazbak-Abu Ahmad is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the English Department at The College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education.

by Aaron Traxler-Ballew, IGR Alumnus

Some people say job searching or applying to graduate school is all about selling yourself. And if you're willing to think about yourself and your experience as something to be sold, this approach may work for you. I prefer a different metaphor: the generic novel.

That's right, getting a job or getting into graduate school is all about telling your story. You are the protagonist and the focal point. However, as with a lot of popular genres, people are only interested in your story if it follows a pretty generic script.

by Nicole Rixen, IGR Graduate Intern

When many people think about IGR, they immediately think about social justice. While it is true that IGR provokes us to think about social justice both on and off campus, I feel IGR provides so much beyond just understanding social justice. For example, when I talk with students, they tell me about all the skills and tools that they have gained and can use throughout their careers and lives.

Brandon Colbert graduated in 2007 and began his work with the Program on Intergroup Relations as a first year student through a dialogue class on socioeconomic status. He continued his involvement as a facilitator for dialogue classes on gender and SES as well as with the Youth Dialogues program in Metro Detroit. Brandon is currently commuting between Washington, D.C. and Michigan working on starting a new company called Awakening. We are honored that Brandon decided to devote so much of his time to IGR as an undergraduate and want our readers to know the incredible things that he has learned and is up to!