Zúñiga’s Decades-Long Career in Social Justice Education Celebrated

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Ximena Zúñiga presents on opening night.

Over September 25–26, close to 200 participants gathered at the UMass Amherst’s College of Education to celebrate the career of Professor Emerita Ximena Zúñiga as part of the Dialogue Across Difference: Engendering Hope and Building Community symposium. The symposium, representing a capstone to Zúñiga's 31-year career at the university, brought together a broad community of educators, scholars, practitioners, and students connected to the college’s Social Justice Education (SJE) program, as well as her work in intergroup dialogue facilitation.

“This event gathered together a community of people representing the past, present, and future, there to dream about the possibilities of dialogue, and to develop concrete actionable steps,” says Rani Varghese ‘13EdD, associate professor at Adelphi University’s School of Social Work, a former doctoral student of Zúñiga's who attended and contributed to planning the symposium. “Ximena embodies theory and practice—she is a powerful force, a conduit and bridge to information, resources, and people. She has ushered a countless number of students through the Social Justice Education program, including myself. I am incredibly grateful for her continued support and mentorship.”

One of many packed sessions from the Dialogue Across Difference symposium.

The two-day symposium showcased the broad impact of the SJE program, featuring 14 panel and roundtable sessions by SJE students, alumni, and faculty. Topics included opportunities and challenges of intergroup dialogue inpolarized times, supporting neurodivergent and neuroexpansive learners’ participation in dialogic practices, building dialogic capacity with faculty and staff, engaging black and brown youth in community-based research and programming, forging liberatory trans and queer futures, and embracing joy in challenging times, as well as conversations with authors of recently published books. The event also featured keynote addresses by Distinguished Professor Sylvia Hurtado of UCLA, Associate Professor Jamila Lyiscott, and Professor Emerita Barbara Love; a book display featuring ten recently published books written by SJE alumni, faculty and faculty emerita; and a community dance and reception.

Students and alumni of the Social Justice Education program.

Building Community Through Intergroup Dialogue

The symposium’s focus on intergroup dialogue reflects Zúñiga's decades of scholarship and practice in the field. Before joining the faculty of the College of Education, she directed the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan, where she participated in developing the intergroup dialogue educational model in higher education, which promotes student engagement across cultural and social divides. To make bridging these divides possible, the model starts from the assumption that these conversations will be affected by the histories of intergroup conflict and marginalization within the United States, and that these conflicts can be explored through education and dialogic practices—listening and speaking honestly with the aim of forming connections and creating shared meaning, rather than polarizing debates.

At UMass Amherst, Zúñiga continued to develop the theory, research and practice of intergroup dialogue across different campus contexts (classrooms, residence halls, and workplaces) using action research methodologies. In collaboration with advanced graduate students, she has prepared multiple cohorts of graduate students in social justice education to lead practice of, and research intergroup dialogue practices, and engaged countless of undergraduates in small group dialogues across differences. She also co-developed and co-led sustained efforts to build capacity among students, faculty and staff in collaboration with several campus units and colleagues, including Project Mosaik in Residence Halls (1998–2002), the Multiversity Research and Intervention Intergroup Dialogue Project (2005–2009), the Five Colleges Intergroup Dialogue Initiative (2010–2013), and the Transformative Racial Justice Practices initiative (2021–2022).

During the past two years, Zúñiga served as founding faculty co-director of the campuswide UMass Intergroup Dialogue Initiative, which aims to reimagine ways of bringing faculty and staff to facilitate dialogic practices in classrooms and workplaces at a time when campuses are reeling from the socio-emotional effects of political polarization, increased social isolation, and community fragmentation. Through the IGDI, Zúñiga and her colleagues have built capacity with faculty and staff through year-long fellowship programs to engage in and facilitate important and often difficult conversations on social issues. Faculty and staff fellows learn the importance of intentional planning dialogic conversations and providing scaffolding to ensure participants “feel held” as they engage in these conversations as well as what Zúñiga calls "the power of good questions.”

Her current research focuses on the impact of transformative dialogue education efforts involving faculty and staff in higher education on faculty and staff classroom teaching, mentoring and equity and inclusive practices. work at UMass Amherst, where she co-founded the university’s Intergroup Dialogue Initiative (IGDI). She has also developed that work through numerous papers and books, including Intergroup Dialogue: Engaging Difference, Social Identities, and Social Justice, and Dialogues Across Difference: Practice, Theory and Research on Intergroup Dialogues.

“I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime, so I know it can change,” Zúñiga says. "When we do this work—when we learn how to engage in intergroup discussions—people discover that this is possible.”

“Whatever she does, she does with full energy and care,” said Professor Carey Dimmitt, her colleague at the College of Education, in prepared remarks for the event. “I have always been impressed by Ximena's commitment to educating students, faculty, and staff about dialogical practices. She is completely devoted to making sure that capacity and awareness are translated into action as well as future scholarship.”

In a "fireside chat" conversation, colleagues, former students, friends, and family shared stories that brought to life the richness of Dr. Zúñiga’s legacy.

The Dialogue Across Difference symposium was sponsored by the UMass Amherst College of Education, Intergroup Dialogue Initiative, Office of the Provost, Social Justice Education Concentration & Maurianne Adams Social Justice Education Endowed Funds, Student Affairs and Campus Life, and the Five College Intergroup Dialogue Collaborative.

Zúñiga serves as professor emerita at the College of Education, where she taught from 1995–2026. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees from University of Michigan in 1982 and 1992, and her master’s in education in 1979, and her bachelor’s in philosophy and teaching from Universidad Católica de Chile in 1975.