Overview of Refugee Policy and Data

Dr. Michelle S. Dromgold-Sermen, Assistant Director of the Institute for Immigration Research, provided an overview of historic and contemporary global displacement, historic U.S. refugee policies, and U.S. refugee resettlement processes and data.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Michelle S. Dromgold-Sermen is Assistant Director of the Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) at George Mason University. Her areas of expertise include U.S. immigration law and policy, legality and membership, refugee resettlement, and global migration management. Her research is interdisciplinary and adopts multiple methods including computational, qualitative, and quantitative analysis to explore diverse questions about the impacts of migration systems and administration for the experiences of migrants and citizens. In her current research, she analyzes online immigration forum posts to examine the consequences of uncertain policymaking and waiting for visa-holders in the United States who are navigating the adjustment of status process to become legal permanent residents. She has spent extensive time researching and working with migrant and refugee populations in Germany, Türkiye, and the United States. 

Dr. Dromgold-Sermen will earn her doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 2023. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Middle East Studies from the Duke-UNC Consortium, a M.A. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a M.S. in Middle East Studies from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Türkiye. She completed undergraduate degrees in International Studies and German and Europe Area Studies from American University.