The Inclusive History Project will host its annual summit March 27. The day-long event will bring together members of the university community along with alumni and community members to explore the University of Michigan’s histories of inclusion and exclusion. 

“This year marks the midpoint of the IHP’s current five-year phase, and the summit offers the opportunity to share the compelling work we have been pursuing across our three campuses to enrich and deepen our understanding of the university’s full history,” said IHP co-chair Elizabeth R. Cole. “It also allows us to look ahead to the work remaining.”

Cole is University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of psychology, of women’s and gender studies, and of Afroamerican and African studies in LSA; and director of the Phillip J. Bowman Center for Scholarship to Practice. 

The 2026 summit will take place at the Harding Mott University Center at UM-Flint. Programming will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an afterparty to follow. Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be served. 

The summit is free and open to all to attend, with registration requested.

The summit will open with a panel discussion titled “Whose History, Whose University? Power, Memory, and Narrative,” which will be moderated by IHP co-chair Earl Lewis. The discussion will highlight some of the large-scale research projects the IHP is leading on the Flint, Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses, which move beyond the traditional origin stories that many university history projects focus on. 

Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies and Public Policy; professor of history, and of Afroamerican and African studies in LSA; professor of public policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and director of the Center for Social Solutions.

A roundtable will explore the history and impact of urban renewal in Flint and how it affected UM-Flint’s move to its downtown campus. Summit attendees will also have the chance to view the IHP exhibit “Blueprints of Power: The University and Urban Renewal in Flint,” which is on view at the Harding Mott University Center through March 27. Callum Carr-Marquis, associate archivist and head of archives at UM-Flint, and Benjamin Gaydos, professor of communication and visual arts, also at UM-Flint, lead the exhibit and will participate in the roundtable.

In a series of afternoon lightning talks, students, community members, faculty, and staff will share the work they are pursuing through the IHP across the Flint, Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses. The day’s programming will conclude with a spoken word performance by poet, activist, and Flint native Shea Phire Cobb.

The summit will also feature a community tabling fair and a guided history tour of UM-Flint’s student support services centers, which are the focus of one of the IHP’s research projects. Hands-on workshops and activities will occur throughout the day, including button-making with Flint artists, a video booth where people can share their stories of U-M, and an interactive photo mural conceptualized and led by the IHP Student Advisory Committee.

A detailed schedule for the summit can be found on the IHP website.