Irene E. Routte

PhD Student. Social Work/Anthropology Candidate

Irene Routté is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan in the joint program in Social Work and Socio-Cultural Anthropology. Her research is focused on refugee resettlement, forced migration and displacement, and centers how people are in relationship with their built and natural environment and its effects on well-being and community resilience/development. She is also engaged in research and practice at the intersection of race and immigration in the United States. Prior to her doctoral studies Irene worked in arts programming and case management with refugee youth and in higher education leadership development programs.

Contact Information

  • [email protected]

  • B660 SSWB
    University of Michigan
    School of Social Work
    1080 S. University Ave.
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Education

  • 2008 BA
    Princeton University
  • 2014 MA
    Harvard Divinity School
  • 2020 MSW Social Work
    University of Michigan

Activities

Publications

Hong, S., Ribaudo, J. M., Safyer, P., Routte, I. E., & Watkins, D. C. (2025). Advancing psychodynamic-based clinical social work practice to address structural trauma: Integrating neuroscience and attachment theory. Social Work, 70(2), 121-130.
Gonzalez Benson, O., Routte, I. & Yoshihama, M. (2023). Organizational legitimacy and grassroots organizations: Examining form, function and cultural vis-á-vis scientific expertise. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-23.
Gonzalez Benson, O., Song, C., & Routte, I. (2023). Distributive politics of US refugee resettlement: Temporal trends and state-level analyses of discretionary federal funding. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.
Pimentel Walker, A. P., Sanga, N., Gonzalez Benson, O., Yoshihama, M., & Routte, I. (2022). Participatory action research in times of COVID-19: Adapting approaches with refugee-led community-based organizations. Progress in Community Health Partnerships, 16(2).
Gonzalez Benson, O., Routte, I., Pimentel Walker, A., Yoshihama, M. & Kelly, A. (2022). Refugee-led organizations’ crisis response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Refuge, 38(1), 62-77.
Pimentel Walker, A., Sanga, N., Yoshihama, M., Gonzalez Benson, O. & Routte, R. (2022). Participatory action research in times of COVID-19: Adapting approaches with refugee-led community-based organizations. PCHP Progress in Community Health Partnerships:
Research, Education, and Action, 16(2), 69-76.

Honors and Awards

Year Description
2026 - Winter Irene & William Gambrill Fellowship
2026 - Winter Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship
2025 - Winter Joint Doctoral Program Grant
2025 - Sp/Su Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship
2025 - Fall Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship
2024 - Winter Rackham Doctoral Intern Fellowship
2024 - Sp/Su Anti-Racism Graduate Research Grant
2024 - Fall Outstanding Doctoral Student Award / Association for Community Organizing and Social Action (ACOSA)
2024 2024 ACOSA Outstanding Doctoral Student Award
2023 - Winter Office of Global Activities (OGA) Doctoral Grant for International Research
2023 - Sp/Su UofM African Studies Center, Lester P. Mont’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Research on Africa
2023 - Fall Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Endowed Scholarship
2023 Lester P. Monts Award for Outstanding Graduate Research
2023 UofM African Studies Center, Lester P. Mont's Award for Outstanding Graduate Research on Africa
2022 - Sp/Su Rackham Language Training Grant
2022 - Sp/Su ISR-Rackham Summer Training Award
2022 - Fall Henry J. Meyer Scholarship Award
2021 - Sp/Su Rackham Program in Public Scholarship (RPPS)
2021 Rackham Public Scholarship Grant
2020 - Sp/Su International Institute Individual Fellowship
2019 - Fall Doctoral Fellowship for Underrepresented Students
2019 - Fall John & Penny Tropman Conference Travel Grant

Presentations

Year Description
2025 Routte, I. (2025, May) "Youth Engagement Frameworks, Refugee Led Organizations and Youth Councils: A Social Work Practice Based Case Study. Canadian, Regional, and International Responses to Forced Migration, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.
2025 Routte, I. (2025, March) "Blackness, Belonging and Integration Policy: Connecting the Black American Integration Movement to Present Congolese U.S. Refugee Resettlement Integration Policy and Advocacy. International Conference of the Collegium for African American Research, Berlin, Germany.
2025 Routte, I., Hong, S., & White, L. (2025, January) "Living in Silos: Social Work Research as a Bridge between Science and Social Change. Society for Social Work Research, Seattle, WA.
2024 Routte, I. (2024, October) "Youth Engagement Frameworks, Refugee Led Organizations and Youth Councils: A Social Work Practice Based Case Study. 2024 Symposium on Migration, Bloomington, IN.
2024 Routte, I. (2024, October) "NASW Code of Ethics and Rights-Based Social Work in Grassroots Organizing Practice", Council Social Work Education, Kansas City, MO

Courses

Past Courses

Title Instructor Term Course Section Meeting Start Meeting End
Multicultural, Multilingual and Global Organizing Routte, Irene E. Winter 2023 001 06:00 pm 09:00 pm View Course
Essentials of Social Welfare Policy Routte, Irene E. Fall 2022 005 09:00 am 12:00 pm View Course