A Legacy of Listening: Honoring Samantha Woll through Dialogue

At the University of Michigan, Samantha Woll found her voice and used it to help others be heard.

As an undergraduate, she was rarely still. Between classes in history and the humanities, she could be found organizing with fellow students to advocate for human rights and civil rights, leading rallies for Israel on the Diag, or attending Ann Arbor City Council meetings as a student government representative to petition for issues, like rent control, that were important to U-M students. And she was always at Hillel on Friday nights. As a campus leader, she enthusiastically engaged in spirited discussions with her many friends from diverse faiths and backgrounds, creating a space that not only allowed for disagreement but also welcomed it. Even then, friends remember Samantha seemed propelled by a conviction that conversation could repair what was broken in the world.

“She believed the primary way to make change was through dialogue,” recalled her sister, Dr. Monica Woll Rosen. “When you were having a conversation with Sam, especially if there was disagreement, she would listen so intently. She would focus on you like nothing else in the world mattered at that moment. She did this with such kindness that she made friends everywhere. It all came from a place of love. It’s what made her uniquely different.”

From a young age, Samantha felt the weight of injustice in the world and a compelling sense of purpose to right the wrongs; that awareness, strengthened during her years at the University of Michigan, would guide the rest of her life. Now, through a gift from the Woll family to support the Samantha Woll Dialogues in the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Michigan, it can shape the lives of University of Michigan students for years to come.

“Samantha recognized inequality as an injustice,” said her mother, Dr. Margo Woll. “She felt a responsibility to act. That sense of duty and compassion was always there.”

Samantha Woll lived her life with a deep commitment to tikkun olam—the Jewish principle of repairing and improving the world. Her activism reflected that sense of responsibility. At U-M, she volunteered with students at a Detroit high school for pregnant teens, became active in the Residential College’s Prison Creative Arts Project, and wrote for The Michigan Daily as she strove to build bridges between communities divided by politics, faith, and fear.

After college, Samantha carried that commitment into her work in Detroit, where her father, Dr. Douglas Woll, grew up. She felt a connection to the city and wanted to help lead its renewal. She worked on local and national political campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Stephanie Chang, Dana Nessel, and Elissa Slotkin. She served as president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue; toured parts of the American South with Rev. Kenneth Flowers and the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity; and founded the Muslim-Jewish Forum of Detroit, where she collaborated with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other Muslim leaders. And she became known for her tireless energy, empathy, and moral courage.

Her efforts touched countless lives. When she was tragically killed in 2023, the Woll family received thousands of letters from people who had known her briefly—or not at all—but felt changed by her kindness. “A theme in those letters,” Doug recalled, “was, ‘I only met her once, but she had a big impact on my life.’ That was Sam.”

The Samantha Woll Dialogues series is helping the Raoul Wallenberg Institute's mission come to life for undergraduate students through ALA 259, LSA’s “Religious and Ethnic Tolerance” course, an applied liberal arts course designed in partnership with the institute, centered around the dialogues, and co-led by Veidlinger. Read the story.

The Woll family knows that Samantha would be humbled to see her name associated with an initiative so closely aligned with her values. “She’d be delighted,” Monica said. “She’d be humbled and so proud that her name is connected to Raoul Wallenberg, another Michigan alumnus who changed the world through empathy and courage. But more than that, she’d be happy that this work is happening, that people are talking and connecting.”

For the Wallenberg Institute, the partnership is equally meaningful. “The Samantha Woll Dialogues are about modeling civil discourse,” Veidlinger said. “They remind us that courage isn’t just about grand gestures—it’s about the daily act of listening, the willingness to engage with people who see the world differently.”

Dialogue is, as Margo said, “not about the outcome.” For Sam, it was about the connection—the same human bond that drove Samantha’s activism and defined her life. Through the Samantha Woll Dialogues, her spirit can continue to shape conversations, challenge assumptions, and inspire empathy at the university that helped form her. In every exchange, every pause for understanding, Samantha’s voice endures. 

As her family sees it, the dialogues honor more than memory—they invite the world to carry forward her mission. Each event, each discussion, each thoughtful question embodies Samantha’s belief that society improves when people commit to understanding one another. Her name, now tied to an enduring platform for civic engagement and cross-cultural dialogue, ensures that the values she lived by continue to flourish at the university that helped form her leadership.

“She’s still part of it,” Monica said. “Every time people come together in good faith to talk and listen—she’s there.”

In the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, life-changing education in the liberal arts and sciences extends beyond the classroom, where collaborative and interdisciplinary centers and institutes bring complex, real-world issues into focus for students. Through research, teaching, events, access to experts and thought leaders, and experiential learning, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute makes global challenges tangible and inspires students to lead positive change in their communities and beyond.