Intergroup Dialogue Center creates new levels of understanding

Mount Holyoke College’s newest academic center for bridging social and cultural divides has reached a new, major milestone by securing its first round of philanthropic investment from its most recent board chair, Karena Strella ’90.

Established in 2023, Mount Holyoke’s Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) Center has quickly become an important resource on campus. The Center — a partnership between Academic Affairs and Student Life — provides robust opportunities to support student, faculty and staff learning and competencies around inter- and intra-group relations, conflict and social justice across a range of identities.

“Now more than ever, the world needs bold leaders who have the capacity to engage in the critical — often uncomfortable — conversations that are desperately needed to create a more just and strong democracy,” said Mount Holyoke College Vice President for College Relations Kassandra Jolley. “This founding gift from Karena Strella ’90 and her family not only provides immediate support to expand our IGD efforts, it has also inspired others to lend their financial support to the program.”

Beginning with Beverly Daniel Tatum’s “Psychology of Racism” course in spring 1990, Mount Holyoke’s engagement with IGD has spanned more than 30 years. Tatum returned to Mount Holyoke as interim president in 2022 and worked to further embed IGD into the College through the appointment of then-Presidential Fellow Kristie A. Ford. Ford now serves as the inaugural director of the IGD Center and as professor of sociology and critical race and political economy.

“What’s really unique about IGD, and is different than other types of engagement that might happen on college campuses, is that it’s built upon a four-stage model that was developed by sociologists and psychologists at the University of Michigan in 1988,” Ford said. “The focus of IGD is not on trying to change people's perspectives … what dialogue tries to do is encourage folks to actually listen to, hear and understand other perspectives, even if, and especially when, they disagree.”

In 2024, the Center held workshops for Mount Holyoke faculty and staff to build capacity on campus through professional development opportunities. These workshops were facilitated by Ford and Molly Keehn, visiting lecturer in intergroup dialogue. Workshops will also be held in January and May 2025.

The Intergroup Dialogue Symposium, held in 2023, offered a glimpse into how the Center could become a regional hub for IGD, serving as a force for social change. The symposium brought together 175 participants from the Five College Consortium as well as 25 other colleges, universities and community organizations across the country. The symposium hosted workshops, a film screening about the history of IGD and a keynote conversation moderated by Barbara Love together with Beverly Daniel Tatum and Ximena Zúñiga.

In addition, the Center has provided opportunities for IGD in the classroom and community in several ways. Ford has collaborated with five IGD students and alums to develop and revise dialogue curricula on international and domestic issues, white racial identity, BIPOC identity and multiracial identity. The Center also offered its first four-credit course, Dialoguing for Racial Change, which was cross-listed with the Critical Race and Political Economy and Sociology departments in 2024.

The IGD Center also supported cocurricular activities such as the MoZone Peer Educators program. MoZone is a peer education program based in the office of Community and Belonging. The program is led by trained students who facilitate interactive dialogues on a range of topics, including foundations of social justice, gender and sexuality, race and racism, nationality and nation of origin, and religion and spirituality.

“The space created by IGD, which is defined by self-reflection and deep dialogue, allowed me to connect my own struggles to the struggles of others in ways that will deepen my ability to empathize with students in their personal and educational journeys,” said Ben Gebre-Medhin, assistant professor of sociology.

“The methodology and pedagogical approach to IGD built such safety in the room and allowed all of us to truly get something out of the experience and to be vulnerable with one another in ways it usually takes much longer to achieve without that sort of structural support,” said Kay White, assistant director for Community and Belonging at the College. “Our campus, both staff and students, could benefit so much from more IGD programs and opportunities.”

In anonymous class surveys, students looked to the future and considered how they could help shape conversations in their communities after graduating.

“I think IGD is always necessary, though with the current state of the world we need these spaces even more,” one student wrote. “The teachings of this course and how I've grown as a student will stick with me for a while. I appreciate how this class has been a brave space for us to step into how we can advocate for change in our communities. I think that intergroup dialogue can be the future of where those conversations happen.”