Life-Changing Education

Education has the power to transform everything it touches. It builds understanding across differences. It opens doors of opportunity. It equips individuals with the knowledge and skills they can use to reach their full potential.

Education is also a tremendous catalyst for positive social change, leading to better awareness and discernment and, ultimately, a more equitable and just world.

Student Life aspires to make these experiences available to everyone, confronting the barriers to access and creating a future where all learners will thrive.

InterGroup Relations

• The University of Michigan’s Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) is a pioneering social justice education program, established in 1988. IGR equips students and participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate and bridge divides in an increasingly polarized world. Through a focus on social justice, IGR empowers individuals to develop communication and facilitation skills that foster understanding and collaboration among diverse groups.
• Gifts to IGR are investments in shaping the leaders of tomorrow by fostering intercultural competencies essential in today’s diverse world. Your support empowers students to engage deeply with social justice issues, develop meaningful dialogue skills, and build inclusive communities. By contributing to IGR, you ensure that every student leaves Michigan with a profound understanding and genuine appreciation of diversity, equipping them to navigate and bridge divides in both their personal and professional lives. Your generosity helps foster our campus culture where all voices are heard, and every graduate is prepared to lead with empathy and inclusivity.

The Secular, Spiritual, Religious, and Interfaith (SSR&I) Initiative

• Launched in October 2023, the Secular, Spiritual, Religious, and Interfaith (SSR&I) initiative aims to improve interfaith exploration on campus and provide opportunities for community members to engage across religious spectrums and divides. Spearheaded by the SSR&I Engagement Lead, this initiative is charged with galvanizing the campus community through engagement and educational initiatives that aim to increase religious literacy and exploration, catalyze community discussion around religious diversity and faith traditions, and build awareness of religious and cultural bias and discrimination (like antisemitism and Islamophobia).
• The Secular, Spiritual, Religious, & Interfaith Initiative (SSR&I) has already achieved remarkable success in its first year, fostering understanding and unity in a campus community that has become increasingly divided. This is just the beginning - and with community support, the SSR&I program can reach new heights and continue impacting the student community.

• Your gift will empower us to expand our high-impact events, deepen our engagement across the Ann Arbor campus, and equip the SSR&I team with the resources needed to respond to interfaith needs whenever they arise. The potential to build a more inclusive and interconnected community at U-M is limitless, and our community of dedicated alumni, parents, and friends are critical parts of making this potential a reality.

The Trotter Multicultural Center

• The mission of the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center is to build on our historical heritage of strengthening relationships and generating collective power that disrupts patterns of inequity, restores and celebrates cultural heritages, and cultivates racial healing within student experiences. Our goal is to preserve the rich legacy of the center while also deepening the current student experience through culturally-responsive innovation in our programming, training, and event management.
• The goal of Trotter programming is to introduce, educate, and at times challenge our students in their views of other people, cultures, and religions. The University strives to provide a positive experience for all community members participating in the programs offered and moderated at the Trotter Multicultural Center.
• Your gift helps the Trotter Multicultural Center continue to provide free event and meeting space to approximately 1,500 student and professional organizations throughout the year, monthly programming experiences focusing on uplifting and celebrating diverse communities through the arts as well as creating social justice-centered dialogic spaces.

The University Career Center

• The University Career Center (UCC) is committed to helping students enhance their educational experience and transition confidently into the post-college world beyond the University of Michigan. The UCC provides a dynamic space for students to access information, resources, and guidance that will prepare them for future internships, jobs, and graduate and professional degree programs. Beyond just resume building, it is important to provide students with the opportunity to explore careers, build skills, and develop professional networks.
• Your gift can help the UCC purchase career assessment tools, support immersions, and internships, and assist students as they seek out real-world experiences that will help them to build the knowledge, skills, and networks to be successful in the working world.