Undergraduate Course
Online Interest Form [submit here]
There is still time to register for the Fall 2025 Intergroup Dialogue academic course
The first step is to submit an online interest form. It takes just 5-10 minutes and we regularly reply within 48 hours.
If you have any questions about the course or submitting the form at this time, feel free to reach out to program assistant Steven Contreras [stcontre@syr.edu]
More details are provided below and you can read what former students have to say here: IGD student voices
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For Fall 2025, the Intergroup Dialogue Program is offering SOC WGS CRS CFE 230: Race and Ethnicity at the Intersections.
The class meets Wednesdays at 3:45 to 6:30 pm and is co-facilitated by Amanda Kingston and Etije Walker.
Intergroup Dialogue [IGD] is a research-based pedagogy developed in higher education and practiced across school, organizational, and community contexts that centers a small group, highly interactive, experiential and reflective, learning environment. Intergroup Dialogue brings students together across social divides, often with a history of conflict and/or unequal power relations, and limited opportunities to engage in deep and meaningful discussion of challenging societal issues.
The learning goals of IGD include:
- Understanding social identities and the role of social structures and institutions in creating and maintaining inequality
- Developing intergroup and other communication skills
- Planning and enacting collaboration across difference
IGD is organized around multi-disciplinary readings (e.g., historical, sociological, psychological, personal narratives), experiential learning activities, small group work, and reflective writing and additional exercises. Students analyze and learn about issues facing groups on campus, in higher education, and in broader society. The program invites students to learn and engage in Intergroup Dialogue as a form of Social Justice Education, engaging questions and practices of social responsibility.
Each intergroup dialogue is led by a team of two trained/experienced facilitators who frame and initiate co-learning through asking questions, identifying key points, guiding group process, and providing overall curricular structure for dialogue. This learning process builds community; explores differences, common ground, and intersections; and leads to in-depth discussion of persisting issues such as systemic racism. Students learn about coalitions and how to work together creatively in teams that encompass, acknowledge, and embrace different perspectives and experiences.
Class sizes are limited to approximately 12 to 18 students. To register, the first step is for students to submit an online placement form through the Intergroup Dialogue website; it takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. Once the form has been reviewed by the IGD Program, usually within a day or two, students are notified about placement in a course and at that point receive permission to register for SOC 230, WGS 230, CFE 230, or CRS 230 Intergroup Dialogue.
SOC WGS CFE CRS 230 (3 credits) is open to students across colleges, majors, and years and meets the Arts & Sciences critical reflections requirement. The course is also approved for the Atrocity Studies and the Practices of Social Justice Education minor; and students may petition for it to be an elective for the Mindfulness & Contemplative Studies minor or the School of Social Work social justice minor.
To learn more about the course or our program’s facilitation team, visit Our Team.
Graduate Course
CFE 640: Inequality and Intergroup Relations in Education
In 2025-26, the graduate-level course will be offered again by the faculty director of the Intergroup Dialogue Program, Gretchen Lopez, PhD. This course examines theory, research, and practice important for intergroup relations in education, within the context of racial, ethnic, class based and intersecting inequalities in broader U.S. society. The course covers the critical pedagogy of intergroup dialogue courses, as a form/praxis of social justice education, and serves as one step in the preparation of graduate student (Masters and Doctoral) co-facilitators for the IGD program’s curricular, co-curricular, and community offerings.
To learn more about graduate programs and courses in the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Foundations of Education, visit the School of Education website.