Donna Kaplowitz, PhD is the senior director for campus dialogue education at the University of Michigan, jointly appointed by Student Life and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In her role, she provides strategic leadership across a campus dialogue portfolio that includes The Program on Intergroup Relations, Dialogue Michigan, a growing partnership with Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, and related initiatives.
Donna previously served as LSA faculty co-director of IGR, working with a Student Life co-director to provide campus leadership in student learning in the areas of intergroup relations and social justice education. Donna continues to teach in the program and conduct research on facilitating intergroup dialogue with specific attention to race topics in peer and near-peer settings. As co-director, Donna recently directed Difficult Dialogues Meet the Moment Initiative, a partnership between the University of Michigan and leading national experts to build dialogic capacity and skills at U-M and beyond. Over the course of the 2024-25 academic year, she developed campus workshops, launched the initiative's popular coaching program, and supported a growing multi-disciplinary network of practitioners dedicated to learning about conversations across difference.
Donna and Dr. Stephanie Hicks released a co-edited volume, Facilitating Transformational Dialogues: Creating Socially Just Communities (Teachers College Press) in 2024. Her earlier book Race Dialogues: Tackling the Elephant in the Classroom (Teachers College Press, 2019) with Sheri Seyka and Shayla Reese Griffin was recognized as the book of the month by the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center and was a TCP best seller.
Donna's BA is from the University of Michigan in English and Latin American studies and her MA and PhD are in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Her previous work at Johns Hopkins University focused on US policy toward Cuba. She taught civic engagement and social justice education for 15 years at Michigan State University before returning to her alma mater in 2019. In her free time, Donna likes to travel with her family, hike along Lake Michigan, run, paint, and chill with friends.
Educational background
- PhD in international relations, Johns Hopkins University
- MA in international relations, Johns Hopkins University
- BA in English and Latin American studies, University of Michigan
Professional affiliations
- Programming Team, Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center
Recent publications
- Liu, Y., Kaplowitz, M.D., Liu, C., Kaplowitz, D.R., & Raven, M. (2025, April 23-27). Measuring Growth towards Social Equity: Comparing an Intergroup Dialogue-Augmented Course to a Semester-Long Dialogue [Virtual paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association 2025 Annual Conference, Denver, CO, United States.
- Hicks, S., Rich Kaplowitz, D. (2024). Facilitating Transformational Dialogues: Creating Socially Just Communities. Teachers College Press.
- Kaplowitz, M. D., Rich Kaplowitz, D., & Liu, Y. (2023). Intergroup dialogue success in racially diverse high school classrooms. Multicultural Education Review.
- Rich Kaplowitz, D., Griffin, S. R., & Seyka, S. (2019). Race Dialogues. Teachers College Press.
Recent presentations
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Deep Dive into Creating Communities of Care: Creating Mindful Post-Election Spaces and Strategies for Dialogue," Meet the Moment Workshop Series, November 13, 2025
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Dialogue Across the Holiday Table," Meet the Moment Workshop Series, November 20, 2024
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Five Dialogue Basics for Everyone" Meet the Moment Workshop Series, February 2, 2025, University of Michigan
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Strategies for addressing Difficult Topics with Your Department, School or College," Feb 27, 2025, Provost Campus Leadership Program, University of Michigan
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Strategies for Addressing Difficult Dialogues with your School or College," March 14, 2025, Associate Dean's Group, University of Michigan
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Community of Practice, Ways Forward in Troubling Times," DDNRC National Workshop, March 19, 2025
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. "Dialogue Michigan," University of Michigan, April 2, 2025
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. AAC&U CLASS Conference, April 2025, "Meeting the Moment: Institutional Approaches to Dialogue in Difficult Times," San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Rich Kaplowitz, D. DDNRC, June 2025, "Meet the Moment Plenary" Institutional Approaches to Dialogue in Polarized Times," St. Louis, MO
- Rich Kaplowitz, D., Thompson, M. (2024, January 25). Introduction to Intergroup Dialogue. [Webinar]. Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center.
Contact
Contact me about:
- Dialogue facilitation
- Intergroup dialogue
- Meet the moment with dialogue
- Strategic planning and dialogue
- Community collaboration and dialogue
- Race dialogues