News

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

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

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 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 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.

May 1, 2019

Arikia Millikan is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Alumnx Award (OAA). She was presented with the award at IGR's 16th Annual Award Ceremony and Graduation Celebration. Arikia is also featured in IGR's podcast DialogueUP!

May 1, 2018

Sabrina Claude, Ed.D. is the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Alumni Award (OAA). She was presented with the award at IGR's 15th Annual Award Ceremony and Graduation Celebration. Dr. Claude is also featured in IGR's podcast DialogueUP!.

April 2, 2018

The dedicated, highly trained upper-level undergraduate facilitators of ALA 171 "Making the Most of Michigan" received the Quiet Influence Award at the Michigan Difference Student Leadership Awards ceremony on March 27, 2018.

December 7, 2017

We, the staff and faculty of The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) at the University of Michigan (U-M), support the student-led drive to implement the Middle Eastern/North African (ME/NA) identity category on all official university documents that collect demographic information. This initiative is in line with IGR’s mission for building dialogue across social group identity.

May 1, 2017

IGR presented the 2017 Outstanding Alumni Award (OAA) to Kevin Trimell Jones at IGR's Graduation Celebration. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Kevin completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, earned a Master’s of Education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania.

December 2016

Dr. Karriem Watson remembers his IGR days like it was yesterday. Gaining an in-depth knowledge and understanding about social justice and dialogue from IGR has made a profound impact on his life personally and professionally.

December 2016

For this edition of "Staff Spotlight", a regular feature where we share things you may not know about IGR staff members, we sat down with IGR Associate Director (LSA) Roger B. Fisher.

December 2016

At the Association for the Study of Higher Education, IGR's Dr. Adrienne Dessel, PhD, LCSW was on a panel put together by Sachi Edwards, titled "Christian Privilege and Higher Education: Critical Perspectives on Interfaith Relations and Campus-Based Religious Diversity Initiatives" and her paper was titled "Christian Power and Privilege in Higher Education: Challenging the Dominant Narrative".

December 2016

In this ongoing feature, we ask IGR students and alumni each month for their opinion on a fun question that relates to issues that are discussed within IGR's courses and co-curricular activities. This month's question is: "Why is the practice of making and consuming food so central to our everyday lives?"

Fall 2016

The snow has arrived here on campus as students wrap up the fall with finals and look forward to their break or graduation day. It's always wonderful to see how excited the students are to be a part of IGR.

May 1, 2016

IGR presented the 2016 Outstanding Alumni Award to Theresa Q. Tran at the Graduation Celebration. Below is a short biography that describes Ms. Tran's accomplishments and skills.

December 1, 2015

This semester, the Student Engagement Team (SET) focused on several new and ongoing ways to both unite and strengthen the IGR community, and to bring IGR community members out of their prescribed roles. 

October 2015

For this edition of "Faculty Chat", a regular feature where we share things you may not know about IGR faculty members, we sat down with IGR Co-Director (LSA) Kelly Maxwell. In her role, Kelly provides overall direction for the program in addition to teaching courses and leading several other projects both in and outside of IGR.

October 2015

This term, we are excited to be offering our intergroup dialogue course to 117 students. The dialogue topics this semester are Ableism, Gender, Race & Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, Students of Color, and White Racial Identity. We have also already had several students express their intention to earn the Minor in Intergroup Relations Education.

July 13, 2015

In the 13 years since it started, U-M’s Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit has engaged thousands of students and teachers who seek to effect social change, one conversation and one classroom at a time.

April 29, 2015

As students are taking final exams and preparing for the next few months, we are reflecting back on the past year with pride. Among the many wonderful achievements of IGR students, faculty, and staff, is that Winter 2015 marked the first semester of IGR offering a Minor in Intergroup Relations Education. We are very excited to be graduating our first two students with the minor in just a few days. Additionally, we have nearly 20 other students who have declared the minor!

March 2015

This month we'd like to tell you a bit about a long-time IGR student and employee who has shown a tremendous amount of commitment to our program. Jake Cinti '15 is majoring in Sociology and minoring in Community Action and Social Change (CASC). Read on to learn more about Jake and his IGR experiences.

December 1, 2014

In November 2014, U-M alumna Stephanie Chang was elected to serve a two-year term in the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 6 (Detroit along the river, River Rouge, and Ecorse). What makes Chang’s election to office unique is her distinction of being the first Asian American female elected to the Michigan legislature.

October 17, 2014

IGR's own Roger Fisher spoke this week at the Michigan Student Achievement Conference (MSAN) organized by the Center for Educational Outreach (CEO).

October 7, 2014

Fall semester is in full swing and IGR is bustling with activity! We are offering nine dialogue course topics this fall to 107 students and we have three research teams. Additionally, our CommonGround team has just trained a large group of student facilitators who are already busily planning for student workshops this semester.

October 20, 2014

IGR is proud to share that staff member Danny Alvarez was featured in the URecord.

Summer 2014

In collaboration with IGR, the University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH) is actively engaged in a five-year initiative to provide every student, staff, and faculty member at SPH with a substantive dialogue experience, including opportunities for students to be trained as intergroup dialogue facilitators.

Summer 2014

Susan King, D.Min., Director of Outreach for IGR and the Associate Director of the Life Sciences and Society Program at the School of Public Heath, was recently awarded a Faculty Development Fund grant through the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT).

Summer 2014

This summer, IGR's Dr. Adrienne B. Dessel, presented a chapter co-authored with colleagues Johanna C. Massé, Doctoral Candidate (U-M Department of Sociology and School of Education) and Lauren T. Walker, MSW (U-M School of Social Work), at the Social Action and Change: Opportunities, Resistance, Inertia, and Mobilization conference held by The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).

July 10, 2014

IGR was pleased to host its 8th annual National Intergroup Dialogue Institute in June. Through the institute, IGR seeks to give colleagues from around the world the opportunity to learn IGR’s philosophy and techniques, so that they will be able to create dialogue programs on their own campuses.

April 2014

Alumnus Joe Person ('06) recently addressed graduating seniors at the 2014 Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit Awards Ceremony.

May 1, 2014

IGR was proud to present the Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit to the following graduating seniors on Thursday, May 1: Ronye Craft, Megan Fisher, Aliza Anis Hirani, Loren Lee, Blake Mackie, Melissa Manley, Eric Nagy, Ciarra Ross, Maja Tosic, Ozi K. Uduma, Jubek Yongo-Bure

April 17, 2014

Welcome to the Winter 2014 tri-annual newsletter of The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) at the University of Michigan! We in IGR always look forward to this time of year because it gives us the opportunity to reflect and celebrate student achievements, both in and out of the classroom.

February 2014

IGR is proud to announce the launch of our live webinar series for colleagues and friends from both U-M and across the nation and world.

Fall 2013

Below are links to mentions of IGR in the news. Also included in this list are IGR-related pieces in the news that are written by staff, IGR alumni or current students.*

October 29, 2013

The faculty and staff of IGR, as well as the IGR Alumni Committee, are so pleased to have welcomed over 70 alumni back to Ann Arbor on October 4-5 for our alumni weekend. Held in honor of IGR's 25th anniversary, this event helped alumni to reconnect with our program and see how it has grown since they were students.

October 10, 2013

On October 4-5, 2013, IGR held an alumni reunion in honor of our alumni weekend. It was a treasure for all of us to hear how IGR has impacted the lives of our former students. We thought we'd share some of these messages.

Fall 2013

Congratulations to IGR co-director Kelly Maxwell! Kelly, along with Amy Harris (Museum of Natural History), Martha S. Jones (Afroamerican and African Studies, History, and Law), and Shari Robinson-Lynk (Ginsberg Center), served as the co-chairs for LSA's Understanding Race Theme Semester in Winter of 2013. This month, they were awarded a 2013 U-M Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award for their tireless work and commitment.

Fall 2013

IGR's own Dr. Adrienne Dessel recently participated in a U-M Frankel Center for Judaic Studies event called Conversations on Community, Identity, and Israel: Making Sense of the Pew Portrait of Jewish Americans.

Fall 2013

This season has gotten off to an amazing start. Among other great programming, we recently held two events in celebration of IGR's 25th anniversary. With the help of numerous dedicated alumni, friends, and volunteers, we proudly held a very well-attended campus-wide symposium on engaged pedagogies and an alumni reunion weekend.

August 28, 2013

People across the United States are remembering the experience of being part of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.  Several of the most famous of the participants were interviewed by Time Magazine.  Their powerful remembrances are published in the “I Have a Dream” Anniversary Issue (August 26-September 2).

May 5, 2013

The Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit in Intergroup Relations is awarded to seniors who have demonstrated academic mastery in intergroup relations. The award's requirements include peer facilitation of intergroup dialogues, multiple courses in intergroup relations, and a high level of academic achievement in these courses. We held a reception on May 2 in honor of the graduating seniors who were recipients of this award.

January 9, 2013

IGR will offer the 7th Annual Intergroup Dialogue National Institute from June 19-22, 2013. The Institute is designed for faculty and staff nationwide who are interested in starting intergroup dialogues or are expanding and assessing programs that are already in place at their colleges and universities.