Semester in Detroit
The Urban and Regional Studies program is excited to partner with University of Michigan Ann Arbor's Semester in Detroit (SID). This program provides students in any major the opportunity to have a rich and unique learning experience, earning 7-10 undergraduate credits. This is our most immersive option for students wanting an experiential learning experience in Detroit. Students intern at local community organizations in a wide variety of fields and have opportunities to build deep relationships with activists and community leaders while taking Detroit-focused classes in the city.
Dearborn students
- have the opportunity to live in Detroit during the program
- pay Dearborn tuition and have all credits apply to their UM-Dearborn transcript
- Have the option to take 2 or 3 courses
- Can easily attain an Urban and Regional Studies minor by taking 3 SiD courses and URS 300 (offered every winter)
The Semester in Detroit mission is to engage undergraduates in substantive, sustained and reciprocal relationships with the people and communities of the City of Detroit. Combining a semester-long residence in the city with rigorous academic study and a comprehensive community-based internship, SID students become deeply involved in – and committed to – the life, challenges, and promise of this important American city.
Applications for SiD are usually due early in the Winter term. Watch for information events for the program late in the Fall semester.
Program Details
Semester in Detroit accepts undergraduate students from all schools and departments at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, UM-Dearborn, UM-Flint and Grand Valley State University. All students, from First years to Seniors or Super Seniors are eligible to apply.
Applicants should have a strong interest in the city of Detroit and in questioning dominant narratives; engaging with challenging new perspectives on contemporary issues; and building community with students, SiD faculty and staff, and community members at internship sites and beyond.
URS 360 : 20th c. Detroit’s History (core class, 3 credits)
This course meets in Detroit and will explore the history of Detroit, focusing on its transformation during the twentieth century and continued evolution as a majority-black city. The course is intended to clarify how the city’s past has created the conditions and circumstances of the present. Potential topics and themes to be examined in the course include (but certainly are not limited to): the histories of indigenous peoples in the region before the founding of Detroit; practices of slavery and abolition; the persistence and impact of racial and ethnic conflicts across time periods; the ways in which class conflicts have shaped the urban landscape and the workplace; the Great Migration and the social and political development of Black communities; the impact of immigration on Detroit’s social and political development; profiles of specific neighborhoods; musical traditions such as Blues, Jazz, Motown, Techno, and Hip Hop; the interplay between the auto industry and the urban environment; the on-going struggles over political power and for control of the city; and the changing ways the city is represented, both among its citizens and in the broader American consciousness.
URS 301: Community-Based Internship (core class, 4 credits)
A core requirement of the Semester in Detroit experience is an internship with a Detroit community-based organization. With the support and guidance of Semester in Detroit faculty, students and organizations both participate in the placement process, thus providing a challenging academic experience for students while contributing toward the organization’s mission and community agenda. Students develop a work plan early in the semester in conjunction with their direct supervisors. Faculty stay in regular communication (including site visits) with both students and organizational partners during the semester. Past internship opportunities have included experiences in community organizing, community development, public journalism, youth outreach and mentoring, urban agriculture, arts education, and more.
Engl 322: Detroit Artist as Activist
This course will explore the role the arts have played in resisting systemic inequalities, fighting injustice, and giving voice to those on the margins. We will consider the power of art as a component in social movements as well as in times of crisis. Further, we will use the study and practice of art, particularly creative writing, to deepen our understandings of and relationships to the city of Detroit and consider artistic practice as a way of healing and transforming our communities as well as ourselves.
URS 380: Theory and Practice of Visionary Organizing
What is the concept of Visionary Organizing? How is it related to Detroit’s rich history of Black radical politics and community building? What role does it play in current grassroots activism, organizations, and community-media in Detroit? These are some of the guiding questions for this course. Taking the lives, activism, and intellectual work of James and Grace Lee Boggs as the starting point, the course will guide students through a multifaceted examination of historical and contemporary expressions of radical activism in Detroit. Beginning with the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s and ending with contemporary movements, groups, and organizers, we will explore how thinkers and activists during the last half century have theorized, organized, and created the conditions to bring new visions of a just city into being. Students will learn about, and perhaps have the opportunity to interact with contemporary expressions of visionary organizing such as Freedom Growers, Birwood House, Riverwise magazine, and the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership.
UM-Dearborn Contact:
Prof. Georgina Hickey
Co-director, Urban and Regional Studies
[email protected]
SID program Contact:
Craig Regester
SID Associate Director
Phone: 313-505-5185
[email protected]
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