About
The DU Center for Immigration Policy and Research (CIPR) is a multidisciplinary center that fosters collaborations between faculty, students, community partners, and policymakers on migration. CIPR focuses primarily on immigrant populations from Latin America, the Rocky Mountain West, and associated transnational dynamics of migration along three, interrelated pillars: (1) social; (2) economic; and (3) law and politics.
Pillar 1: Social Research and teaching collaborations related to migrant experiences, particularly as they center educational or health access and equity. Focus is on building institutional capacity to integrate migrant community members.
Pillar 2: Economic Highlights work, living, and labor and how immigrant populations are integrated into the economy across the Colorado landscape. Focus is on improving workers' rights, opportunities, and access to justice.
Pillar 3: Law and Politics Colorado has influenced shifts in immigration policies and enforcement across the country. Bridging legal and academic expertise, focus is on the convergence of the criminal justice and immigration systems and efforts to disentangle them.
In the News
Mission
To be nationally renowned for research and creative work, teaching and training, and community engagement that is transdisciplinary, transformative, and transnationally focused in a reemerging immigrant destination.
Values
As a center at a private university dedicated to the public good, we acknowledge and honor the Cheyenne, Arapaho & Ute Nations, and all of the original Indigenous peoples of the land on which the University of Denver occupies. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive community that also addresses the colonial power dynamics that shape migratory flows, immigrant incorporation, and our own positions as scholar-teacher-advocates.
Goals
Generate Collaborative Research
Generate cutting-edge research and creative work across campus, the community, and throughout the region to inform policy-relevant discussions and initiatives.
Serve the Public Good
Build on existing ties and develop new ones with immigrant-serving organizations, advocates, and legal professionals in support of migrant communities.
Engage Students
Work with undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about migration through research, clinics, internships, and other applied work.
Who We Are
Directors’ Welcome:
DU CIPR is co-directed by Dr. Rebecca Galemba, Associate Professor of International Studies, and Dr. Lisa Martinez, Professor of Sociology and Criminology. Through a Knowledge Bridge initiative that began in 2018, CIPR was launched in 2020 to be a hub for migration-related research, creative work, teaching, and community-engaged projects and build ties between faculty, students, immigrant-serving organizations, and community partners. To date, CIPR affiliates span seven schools, colleges, and programs including the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, Sturm College of Law, Morgridge College of Education, the Graduate School of Professional Psychology, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Migration is one of the most pressing, cross-cutting issues of our time, but also one of the most misunderstood. Opinions about immigration are often deeply held, but a product of our own experiences, socialization, and even media exposure. Our affiliates, through their research, teaching, creative works, and partnerships provide both a data-driven response and a human face to migration. By drawing on the social sciences, law, humanities, and the arts, we provide a unique holistic approach to community partnership, research, policy, and student training.
As co-directors, we believe that a deeper understanding of immigration that centers on the diversity of our communities can better equip us to tackle the broader challenges facing our collective future. From economic inequality to global health to racial justice to education to climate change, immigration scholars are particularly well-equipped to offer transformative solutions to problems that increasingly transcend national borders.
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Collaboration
DU CIPR fosters collaboration by offering support for research, teaching, clinical training, and direct community outreach and engagement. We aim to bring together faculty, staff, and students from across campus and area universities, convene community and policymakers for discussions, and offer community partners opportunities to collaborate with us. By bringing together DU’s clinical training and certificate programs in Immigration Law & Policy at Sturm College of Law, the Latinx Social Work certificate in GSSW, and the Latinx Specialty in GSPP, we also offer mutual learning opportunities with employers and alumni, bridges to jobs, and other high-impact opportunities for students.
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