We believe that diversity is fundamental to everything we do. We are committed to celebrating difference, promoting the inherent dignity of all people, and helping one another overcome systemic barriers to success. Through self-reflection and meaningful interaction, we seek to understand and welcome individuals from the full range of lived experiences—a range that includes, but is not limited to: people of every race, ethnic background, religious expression, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, socioeconomic background, public-assistance status, veteran status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
How to engage with DEI within Honors
NEXUS Experiences
NEXUS Experiences are offered each semester and over winter/summer breaks. While all NEXUS Experiences likely touch on some aspect of diversity, equity, and inclusion, certain experiences focus more specifically on DEI including:
- Summer Book Club
- What To Do About a F'd Up World: A Survey of Our Planetary Predicament
Honors Seminars
Many of our Honors Seminars deal with issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Seminars are offered in the fall and spring semesters and vary each year. Here are some examples of seminars that focus on DEI:
- HSEM 2064H: Sex, Gender, and the Digital Body
- HSEM 2233H: The Histories of Student Activism
- HSEM 3025H: Food, Clothing, Shelter: The Culture and Politics of Simple Living
- HSEM 3089H: Worlds of Conflict and the Arts
- HSEM 3242H: Food As A Cultural Good
- HSEM 3231H: It's Giving...: Queer and Feminist Approaches to Hip Hop
- HSEM 3718H: Women's Reproduction: History, Policy, and the Health Care System
Community Engagement and Volunteering
- Service-Learning at the U of M: Courses that combine volunteering in the community with a structured learning environment. Credit-bearing service-learning courses automatically count as non-course Honors Experiences, but still require the submission of an experience approval form.
- Volunteering in the Community: The Center for Community-Engaged Learning offers resources and advising to help you find a volunteer organization that fits your interests. Qualifying volunteer experiences will allow you to donate free time, services, and skills to help the community (campus, neighborhood, town, country, or global) on an unpaid, frequent, and ongoing basis. Faith-based or politically-motivated opportunities are potential options as long as volunteer time is not spent recruiting. A minimum of 45 hours per semester is required.
- Community Engagement Scholars Program: Recognizes students for substantially integrating community engagement into their undergraduate education.
UHP Student Groups
Honors Multicultural Network (HMN)
As a subgroup of the University Honors Student Association, the Honors Multicultural Network seeks to provide BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) students in the University Honors Program with a space to meet and voice their unique concerns on a predominantly white campus.
The vision of the Honors Multicultural Network is to create a space for BIPOC students in the University Honors Program to create community and achieve personal and academic success during their undergraduate careers.
University Honors Student Association (UHSA)
The goal of the University Honors Program (UHP) is to challenge students to develop as creative and independent thinkers. In conjunction with UHP, the University Honors Student Association (UHSA) works to engage students beyond academics and to help sustain the communal aspect of the Honors Program. All honors students are members of UHSA, and all are invited and encouraged to attend events sponsored by the group. By providing events designed to create a welcoming environment for honors students outside of the classroom, UHSA seeks to build an even stronger community of honors students.