Events

Come enjoy a sweet treat and make new friends while testing out U-M's new conversation game, The Pluralism Playdeck. The Pluralism Playdeck is a low-key scaffolded card game designed to allow university students to practice the soft skills they need to engage in compassionate and honest conversations about hot-button issues across ideological and demographic differences. You'll learn about yourself. You'll learn about others. You'll develop a skill set that will serve you well in both social and professional settings.

What if a set of photos could completely transform how you understand your purpose, the experiences of others, and the value of humanity? With over 5 billion pictures taken globally every day, Photovoice uses this powerful medium to foster deeper connections and understanding between participants. In this 90-minute interactive session, you’ll use photographs to reflect, share your story, and engage in meaningful dialogue with others. Whether you're looking to explore your own journey or connect with diverse perspectives, this innovative experience is designed for everyone. No photography skills are needed—just bring your curiosity and an open mind! Come capture more than just a moment—discover the stories behind the images! The theme for November is "gratitude." Here's the prompt: How do you experience gratitude? How do you express gratitude? Snap 3-5 photos that relate to the feeling and action of gratitude for you, and be prepared to share and talk about them with others during this event. Additional student dinners will be held on the fourth Thursday of each month at rotating locations (no dinner during December). The theme of each Photovoice dialogue will be different, but the meal will always be vegetarian. Receive more information about future monthly topics by filling out the interest form included.

Come enjoy a sweet treat and make new friends while testing out U-M's new conversation game, The Pluralism Playdeck. The Pluralism Playdeck is a low-key scaffolded card game designed to allow university students to practice the soft skills they need to engage in compassionate and honest conversations about hot-button issues across ideological and demographic differences. You'll learn about yourself. You'll learn about others. You'll develop a skill set that will serve you well in both social and professional settings.

What if a set of photos could completely transform how you understand your purpose, the experiences of others, and the value of humanity? With over 5 billion pictures taken globally every day, Photovoice uses this powerful medium to foster deeper connections and understanding between participants. In this 90-minute interactive session, you’ll use photographs to reflect, share your story, and engage in meaningful dialogue with others. Whether you're looking to explore your own journey or connect with diverse perspectives, this innovative experience is designed for everyone. No photography skills are needed—just bring your curiosity and an open mind! Come capture more than just a moment—discover the stories behind the images! The theme for November is "gratitude." Here's the prompt: How do you experience gratitude? How do you express gratitude? Snap 3-5 photos that relate to the feeling and action of gratitude for you, and be prepared to share and talk about them with others during this event. Additional student dinners will be held on the fourth Thursday of each month at rotating locations (no dinner during December). The theme of each Photovoice dialogue will be different, but the meal will always be vegetarian. Receive more information about future monthly topics by filling out the interest form included.

The Center for Academic Innovation's Advanced Technology & Campus of the Future event will bring together students, faculty, and campus partners to explore how emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence, are reshaping teaching, learning, and the broader educational experience. Through interactive demonstrations from leading edtech innovators, student perspectives on AI-enabled learning tools, and panel discussions on university–industry collaboration, attendees can directly engage with technologies that are redefining what is possible in the classroom and beyond. This event is part of Life-Changing Education, a University of Michigan initiative exploring how learning transforms lives. It aligns with Campus of the Future, one of four focus areas guiding the initiative, which asks how we design learning environments for what comes next. The gathering functions as both a showcase and a working space: a place for the community to imagine, critique, and co-design future learning experiences. Participants will encounter tools built for real pedagogical needs, connect with innovators across campus, and contribute insights that inform U-M's vision for a technologically empowered, student-centered future. Registration opens in early 2026.

Come enjoy a sweet treat and make new friends while testing out U-M's new conversation game, The Pluralism Playdeck. The Pluralism Playdeck is a low-key scaffolded card game designed to allow university students to practice the soft skills they need to engage in compassionate and honest conversations about hot-button issues across ideological and demographic differences. You'll learn about yourself. You'll learn about others. You'll develop a skill set that will serve you well in both social and professional settings.

ICE in the Heartland showcases a multifaceted project that gathers and disseminates the stories of communities impacted by immigration worksite raids with the aim of bringing underrepresented narratives to news media, classroom, and public discourse. This project comprises qualitative public health research conducted in impacted communities and visual arts generated from the research outcomes. Research teams of graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Michigan, led by Professor William Lopez, and the University of Iowa, led by Professor Nicole Novak, collaborated with a range of community members and organizers at sites of six large-scale immigration worksite raids that occurred in 2018 in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. The researchers visited these sites, spoke to advocates, detainees, their families, and other community members. In conversation with the seventy-seven interviews, artists Dalia Harris and Carolina Jones Ortiz generated ten images that comprise ICE in the Heartland. On display with the artworks are community member testimonies, analysis on the public health detriments to immigration worksite raids and deportation, insights to the artists’ methods, and the curricular materials used in public outreach programs. Hosted and sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, U-M.

Join the Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics as we host Maggie Frye, Associate Professor of Sociology at U-M. Frye uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate how shared cultural ideals and expectations shape outcomes during young adulthood, with a particular focus on family formation and schooling. Most of Frye’s research has focused on sub-Saharan Africa, with several projects in Malawi and Uganda as well as a number of studies that use data from dozens of African countries to learn about how unequally distributed educational opportunities shape cultural norms and behaviors. Frye recently completed a longitudinal data collection project in Kampala, Uganda, examining changing understandings of status resulting from Uganda’s simultaneous expansion of university education and contraction of formal employment opportunities.

ICE in the Heartland showcases a multifaceted project that gathers and disseminates the stories of communities impacted by immigration worksite raids with the aim of bringing underrepresented narratives to news media, classroom, and public discourse. This project comprises qualitative public health research conducted in impacted communities and visual arts generated from the research outcomes. Research teams of graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Michigan, led by Professor William Lopez, and the University of Iowa, led by Professor Nicole Novak, collaborated with a range of community members and organizers at sites of six large-scale immigration worksite raids that occurred in 2018 in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. The researchers visited these sites, spoke to advocates, detainees, their families, and other community members. In conversation with the seventy-seven interviews, artists Dalia Harris and Carolina Jones Ortiz generated ten images that comprise ICE in the Heartland. On display with the artworks are community member testimonies, analysis on the public health detriments to immigration worksite raids and deportation, insights to the artists’ methods, and the curricular materials used in public outreach programs. Hosted and sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, U-M.