Community Engagement   

This panel will discuss the Immigration Crisis in the US and offer details on how policies are impacting immigrants (legal or undocumented) are feeling, the fears that exist and what we can do to help. It is an opportunity for engaging dialog between our panel members and the audience.

Chuck Kieffer is a former local social services agency director, State of Michigan homeless policy and programs administrator, national consultant and trainer in community-based homeless programs implementation, and adjunct lecturer in Psychology and Social Work at the University of Michigan.

Marjorie Ziefert, Professor Emeria in Social Work at Eastern Michigan University, served more than 36 years in a variety of faculty roles, including long stints as both BSW Director and School of Social Work Program Director. Her areas of research and teaching included focus on human rights, public policy, and empowering practice with women, adolescents, and families.

Laura Sanders is a clinical therapist and community organizer who has been an instructor for U of M’s graduate School of Social Work for 29 years, and has provided trauma therapy to children and families for over 37 years. She is a long-time community activist for human rights including those of children, women, LGBTQ people, and immigrants.  Since 2008, she has been a co-founder with her spouse, Ramiro Martinez, of WICIR – the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and more recently MIRA – Movement for Immigrant Rights Action - an active, grassroots, all-volunteer organization that resists increased and inhumane immigration enforcement through advocacy with local policy makers, and for families who have been targeted. Laura and Ramiro live on Lovingway Farm in Dexter and offer Animal Assisted Therapy and learning activities to individual, families and community groups.

In the process of recording life events and accomplishments, African American newspapers emerged as the life blood of their communities during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This talk will focus on the content and visuals of some of the most significant African American newspapers, such as The Chicago Defender, The Indianapolis Freeman, and the Michigan Chronicle, which will illustrate the importance of this media in the interpretation of local and national news for an African American audience.

A native of Indianapolis, Deirdre Spencer is the Librarian for History of Art at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She holds an AB in Art History from Indiana University, Bloomington, an MA in Art History from the University of Chicago, and an MLS in Library and Information Science from Indiana University Bloomington. She is currently working to complete her doctoral degree in Art History alongside her primary role as a librarian at the University of Michigan.