The Program on Intergroup Relations
Presents
The Program on Intergroup Relations
Presents
Aastha Dharia
Akhila Kadiyala
Alex Backus
Alexa Leon
Alexandra S. Ellard
Amira Malik
Analia Wu
Andréa Gutierrez
Aylin Lopez
Brandon Bond
Brooke Pierce
Charles Vazquez
Christina Morton
Courtney Mellios
Di Xie
Diana Cortes
Dominique Witten
Elle Kleinheksel
Holly Reynolds
Iman Elkahlah
Jessica Toma
Jordyn Singer
Karolyn Feichtenbiner
Kelsey Pease
Kevin Pullukat
Kortez Brinson
Leo Thompson
Malik Ochoa
Mayra Muñoz
Michelle Fan
Mohammed Minhajuddin Majid
Naomi Savas
Nithya Elsa Ramesh
Peter Endres
Peyton Sternfeld
Priya Choezom
Rebecca Yin
Sarah Avery
Shaima Abdullah
Shaina Jansen
Shannon Shaughnessy
Shelby Steverson
Stephanie Stan
Stephen Bonesteel
Sydney McKinstry
Tela Kabisch
T.C. Knowles
Yolanda Martì
Zachary Swift
Alex Backus (he/him/his)
Christina Morton (she/her/hers)
“How can I dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and never perceive my own? How can I dialogue if I am closed to - and even offended by - the contribution of others? At the point of encounter there are neither yet ignoramuses nor perfect sages; there are only people who are attempting, together, to learn more than they now know.”
~Paulo Freire
The Outstanding Alumnx Award honors an exceptional alumnx who exemplifies the values and ethic of IGR. The award is in recognition of the significant contribution that an individual has made to create a more just and inclusive society. Recipients embody positive intergroup relations and social justice through their personal and professional lives.
This year, we are pleased to present the award to two outstanding individuals, Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson and Michael Gardner!
IGR presents Riana with the Outstanding Alumnx Award certificate
Riana Elyse Anderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Virginia and completed a Clinical and Community Psychology Doctoral Internship at Yale University's School of Medicine. She also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Applied Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Anderson uses mixed methods to study discrimination and racial socialization in Black families and apply her findings to help families reduce racial stress and heal from racial trauma. She is particularly interested in how family-based interventions help to improve Black youth’s psychosocial well-being and health-related behaviors. Dr. Anderson is the developer and director of the EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) intervention and loves to translate her work for a variety of audiences, particularly those whom she serves in the community, via blogs, video, and literary articles.
Finally, Dr. Anderson was born in, raised for, and returned to Detroit and is becoming increasingly addicted to cake pops.
IGR presents Michael with the Outstanding Alumnx Award certificate
Born and raised in Ypsilanti, MI, Michael graduated from the University of Michigan in 2012 where he studied Business and Spanish. After a summer internship with Google, he returned full-time and has spent the past 8 years on 8 sales teams helping businesses of all shapes and sizes to profitably grow. He now manages a Small Business Sales team. Michael has also made significant contributions to Google's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. He has brought digital resources to hundreds of minority-owned businesses by managing various community partnerships, has worked to make Google Ann Arbor the most inclusive office in the world as co-lead of an Employee Resource Group, and is now coaching hundreds of Googlers of color through a development program he founded and scaled. He was even recognized in a Fortune magazine cover story for some of his efforts. Outside of work, Michael spends a lot of time in movie theaters, owns two chinchillas, and enjoys sharing his 2-year old son, Jack, with the world through Instagram (@gardenofmichael), one dad joke at a time.