October 31, 2025 | By Nick Pfost
The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) is delighted to share photos, highlights, and stories from our latest annual report.
"This work is making a difference," said IGR's 2024-2025 co-directors Monita Thompson, Donna Rich Kaplowitz, and Christina Morton.
"Our mission and dedication to students is unwavering, and interest in IGR continues to grow."
Nearly 4,000 total engagements with IGR—supercharged by our leadership and support for the Difficult Dialogues Meet the Moment Initiative and Dialogue Michigan—meant our reach was up sharply on campus and across the country as we created and helped grow new capacity at a critical time.
Highlights
- Even as students have more choices than ever, we increased enrollment in IGR courses by 16% and awarded more students than ever with a minor in intergroup relations education.
- Through the Difficult Dialogues Meet the Moment Initiative, we achieved 2,363 engagements from among staff, faculty, students, and higher education professionals at U-M and beyond.
- Participation in CommonGround continued to be a critical catalyst for students and student organizations, and our programming team organized and facilitated these workshops to over 500 of their peers
- 6 U-M Social Justice Fellows organized and facilitated intergroup dialogues with 52 metro Detroit high school students.
- 60 higher education practitioners from 24 institutions attended our 19th annual National Intergroup Dialogue Institute, the first to be held in-person since 2019.
- Plus, we celebrated retiring co-director Monita Thompson, said a final goodbye to beloved co-founder Mark Chesler, and heard directly from students about their IGR experiences.
Read and download
U-M community members can view and download the full 2024-2025 report with weblogin, or find a past report.
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