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Mikhail Lyubansky Ph.D.

About

Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D., is a teaching associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches Psychology of Race and Ethnicity and courses on restorative justice.

Since 2009, Mikhail has been studying and working with conflict, particularly via Restorative Circles (a restorative practice developed in Brazil by Dominic Barter and associates) and other restorative responses to conflict. As part of Conflict 180 (co-founded with Elaine Shpungin), he supports schools, organizations, and workplaces in developing restorative strategies for engaging conflict, building conflict facilitation skills and evaluating the outcomes associated with restorative responses.

In addition to conflict and restorative practices, Mikhail also has a long-standing interest (going back about 20 years) in race and racial dynamics and regularly explores these themes in this blog, as well as in contributions to a variety of anthologies on popular culture. In addition to Psychology Today, Mikhail’s commentary has appeared in many other online publications, including Buzzflash, Jewcy, Colors, Race-Talk, Truthout, Tikkun, Alternet and The Huffington Post, and he has been a guest on a variety of radio programs, including Illinois Public Media and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Mikhail's academic work includes multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters exploring various aspects of restorative justice and race relations. He recently co-edited an academic textbook: Toward a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Age and, in 2006, co-authored a book on the Russian-Jewish diaspora: Building a Diaspora: Russian Jews in Israel, Germany, and the United States.

Born in Kiev, Mikhail immigrated with his family to the United States as a child in 1977. He currently lives in Urbana, Illinois, with his wife and two children.

All material on this site published under his byline remains the property of Mikhail Lyubansky, copyright 2008-2020. Permission is granted to repost and distribute, with proper attribution.

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