Learning Together

The purpose of the Learning Together series is to create intentional spaces in which our campus community can wrestle together with multiple, complex, and difficult narratives that address timely issues relevant to our campus and beyond. What we are doing in this series is practicing perspective-taking, which includes emphasizing active listening, acknowledgment of differing worldviews, and a commitment to understanding experiences outside our own. Sessions are intended to invite multiple perspectives and narratives, to learn together about complex issues while also engaging in dialogue so that we can better understand our shared humanity. Registration is open to faculty, staff, and students.

Events in the series will share the following approach:

• An experience of shared texts that can include speakers, films, artwork, podcasts, etc., books, and articles with small-group discussion and dialogue so that attendees interact with one another as learners.

• Registration is limited to the campus community and scaled appropriately so there can be a discussion.

• Ensuring dialogue groups are small and led by a skilled facilitator.

 

Please join us for a spring 2026 Learning Together event: Immigrants, Borders, and Human Dignity in the US.

Monday, February 16, 2026

6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Jepson Alumni Center

Register here: https://richmond.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_beBeCHUJ2YBjH70

What responsibilities does the United States have to people seeking refuge and opportunity within its borders? As conflicts over immigration enforcement intensify, the tensions between national ideals and lived realities raise urgent and difficult questions. Who belongs and who decides? Together, we will explore what it means to call the U.S. a “nation of immigrants,” engaging questions of policy, ethics, community, and the human dignity of those most affected.

 Speakers

• Seth Michelson, Washington & Lee, Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• Lyons Sanchezconcha, Executive Director of theSacred Heart Center
• Margaret Dorsey, University of Richmond, Department of Anthropology
• Miguel Díaz-Barriga, University of Richmond, Department of Anthropology

This Learning Together event is open to all campus community members — students, staff, and faculty — and registration is required. This event is designed for our campus community to learn, discuss, hear differing perspectives, and engage in small group conversations.

 

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What are the Humanities for in a time of immigration uncertainty? A conversation with poet Seth Michelson

Sunday Study Break at the Humanities Center, hosted by Joanna Drell, Humanities Center Director

February 15, 2026

2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Registration required: https://richmond.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8228VLZGbffrim2

 

Please join us for a study break and conversation about borders, belonging, and human dignity in the United States, with poet, professor, and immigration reform advocate Dr. Seth Michelson (Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Washington & Lee, author of Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration and the Power of Poetry), in dialogue with Dr. Manuella Meyer (History, Africana Studies at the University of Richmond). Snacks provided.