Paper/Proposal Title

Critiquing and Constructing HRE in Higher Education

Presenter/Author Information

Sarita Cargas, University of New Mexico
Kristina R. Eberbach, Columbia UniversityFollow
Glenn Mitoma, University of Connecticut
Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, University of Minnesota
Sandra Sirota, University of Connecticut

Location

Critiquing and Constructing Human Rights in Higher Education

Start Date

10-4-2019 8:30 AM

End Date

10-4-2019 10:00 AM

Abstract

This workshop will explore the histories of human rights programs in various institutional contexts; share promising practices and current challenges in the areas of teaching, research, and engagement; and present a draft roadmap for collaborative efforts to advance HRE in colleges and universities. The steering committee of the University and College Consortium will address these themes and present outcomes from a meeting of human rights higher education programs that takes place in August 2019. That meeting included representatives from more than a dozen leading US human rights programs, and featured in-depth and candid discussions of the past, present, and future of human rights in higher education. Workshop participants will then be asked to review, critique, and comment on the draft roadmap in small groups based on their perspectives and experiences. This input will be incorporated in the final published report, scheduled for late 2019/early 2020.

Author/Speaker Biographical Statement(s)

Sarita Cargas, D. Phil is an assistant professor in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. She earned her doctorate at Oxford University. Her teaching focus is on human rights and critical thinking. Courses she has designed include Globalization and Human Rights, and Solutions to Human Rights Problems. Cargas researches and publishes on the pedagogy of human rights. She has a forthcoming book, Human Rights Education: Forging an Academic Discipline, University of Pennsylvania Press (autumn 2019). In it, she argues that the field of human rights meets the criteria for becoming a discipline in higher education. It needs codification if it is going to have a greater presence in academe.

Kristina Eberbach is the Director of Education at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She has developed and facilitated human rights courses and workshops for university students and members of civil society and government officials in Colombia, Iraq, Myanmar, and the U.S. and has undertaken human rights research, reporting, and advocacy work in Kenya, The Netherlands, South Africa, Uganda, and the U.S. She is on the steering committee of Human Rights Educators USA and is a co-founder and steering committee member of the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education.

Glenn Mitoma is an Assistant Professor of Human Rights and Education, jointly appointed with the Human Rights Institute and the Neag School of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He is also Director of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Glenn’s scholarship has focused on the history of human rights and human rights education. His first book, Human Rights and the Negotiation of American Power, was published in 2013 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. As Director of the Dodd Center, he oversees programs designed to promote a culture of human rights, including initiatives in K-12 human rights education and business and human rights.

Kristi Rudelius-Palmer is a Human Rights Education Consultant and a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota. She is a founding steering committee member of Human Rights Educators USA and the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education. Kristi co-directed the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center (1989-2016), including teaching as Adjunct Associate Professor of Law and directing the International Humphrey Fellowship Program. She also served as publishing editor for the Human Rights Education Series of the Human Rights Resource Center (1997-2016). Kristi received the first Edward O’Brien Award for Human Rights Education from Human Rights Educators USA in 2015 and was awarded the University of Minnesota Outstanding Community Service Award in 2003.

Sandra Sirota is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut where she conducts research and teaches courses on human rights, social justice, and education. She earned her doctoral degree from Columbia University Teachers College through the Department of International and Transcultural Studies, with a concentration in peace and human rights education. Her current research focuses on teacher education in human rights and the role of human rights education in deterring discrimination. Recent and forthcoming publications appear in Comparative Education Review, the Journal of Human Rights, and Prospects. Sirota has taught courses at Columbia University and consulted for non-profit organizations and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She served on the founding steering committee of the human rights education network, Human Rights Educators USA, from 2012 to 2014 and is currently on the steering committee of the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education. She co-founded the Advocacy Lab, a nonprofit organization providing human rights education to high school students in New York City in 2006. She earned her Master's degree in international human rights from the University of Denver Korbel School of International Studies and her Bachelor's degree in anthropology from Cornell University.