Human Rights
Director
Associate director
Affiliated faculty
- Loyce Arthur (Theatre Arts), Jeremy Brigham (International Programs), Diana Cates (Religious Studies), Mary Cohen (Education/Music), Carolyn Colvin (Education), Brian Farrell (Law/International Programs), Elizabeth Heineman (History/Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies), Maureen McCue (Public Health/International Programs), David Osterberg (Occupational and Environmental Health), Shelton Stromquist (History), Burns H. Weston (Law), Andrew Willard (International Programs/University of Iowa Honors Program), Adrien Wing (Law)
Undergraduate certificate: human rights
Web site: http://international.uiowa.edu/uichr/certificate-human-rights
Human rights concern the inherent dignity of all human beings and the promotion and protection of that dignity regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, culture, nationality, birth, or other status. The Certificate in Human Rights program broadens students' understanding of human rights issues and helps them learn how to use an interdisciplinary approach to identify solutions.
Course work for the certificate is drawn from units across The University of Iowa. It prepares students to examine societal problems critically and to design specific solutions to human rights dilemmas in a wide range of areas, such as civil governance, the situations of women and racial and sexual minorities, child welfare, socioeconomic development and well-being, hunger and poverty, education, health, immigration, ecological sustainability, and mass violence.
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Undergraduate Program
- Certificate in Human Rights
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Certificate
The Certificate in Human Rights requires 18 s.h. of credit. The certificate program is open to current University of Iowa undergraduate students and to all individuals who hold a bachelor's degree and are not enrolled in a graduate or professional degree program. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in work for the certificate. Completion of the certificate is noted on the student's transcript.
Individuals must declare their intent to earn the certificate and must submit a plan of study; see the Certificate in Human Rights web site for details.
Work for the certificate consists of two core courses (6 s.h.) and several approved electives (12 s.h.) chosen from the lists under "Elective Courses" below.
Students may use certificate courses to fulfill requirements of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences General Education Program and requirements of majors and minors. They may count a maximum of 6 s.h. of transfer credit toward the certificate with approval from the certificate program's faculty advisory group. A maximum of 3 s.h. of credit graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory may be counted toward the certificate.
The Certificate in Human Rights requires the following course work.
Core Courses
Philosophical foundations and contemporary issues in human rights—one of these (students who wish to take more than one course may use the others as certificate electives):
Human rights in practice—all students must take this course:
Elective Courses
Certificate students must earn 12 s.h. of credit in elective course work chosen from the following lists. They may count a maximum of 6 s.h. of credit from any one department or program toward the certificate elective requirement.
The courses below are grouped by theme to help students choose electives that meet their interests and objectives, but some courses could fit into more than one of these groupings. Each course's content is described on ISIS.
Students who would like to take a course not included in the following lists may submit a petition to the certificate's faculty advisory group. The petition should state the course's number and name and tell why the student wishes to include the course in his or her certificate electives. The petition should be submitted before the preregistration period for the session in which the course will be offered. Students must receive approval from the advisory group in order to count the course toward the certificate. Many courses have prerequisites, and some require enrollment in certain programs or colleges; students should consult the certificate program advisor to be sure they meet the registration requirements for the course they are petitioning to count toward the certificate.
Culture
Economic Justice
Education
Environment
Gender and Sexuality
Global Interactions
Health
Labor
Mass Violence
Migration/Immigration
Political and Legal Systems and Thought
Race
Rights of the Child
Topics
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Courses
| 216:080 (HRTS:2115) Introduction to Human Rights | 3 s.h. |
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Analysis and evaluation of the international human rights program; relationship between human rights and international law.
Same as 187:080 (IS:2115). | | |
| 216:173 (HRTS:4283) U.S. Women's History as the History of Human Rights | 3-4 s.h. |
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History of human rights in the United States traced through the perspective of women; aspects of women's experience (social, political, intellectual) related to fundamental human rights—right to a nationality, right to life, liberty and personal security, right to freedom of movement, right to take part in the government of their country, right to own property; these and other rights specified by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; different history of men and women enjoying these rights; how human rights have been constructed and experienced in the United States from the era of colonial settlement to present.
Same as 16A:173 (HIST:4283), 045:173 (AMST:4283), 131:173 (GWSS:4283). | | |
| 216:174 (HRTS:3895) Human Rights and Community Development | 3 s.h. |
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Exploration of connections and tensions between human rights as defined by member states of the United Nations; meaning and practice of community development, especially but not exclusively, in the United States; focus on critical thinking, in‑depth discussion of readings, group work, and individual writing.
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| 216:175 (HRTS:3900) Child Labor and International Human Rights | 3 s.h. |
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Complexity of child labor in global, regional, national, and local contexts; international human rights system, current programs and strategies for reducing or eliminating abusive child labor.
Same as 187:175 (IS:3900). | | |
| 216:180 (HRTS:3910) Human Rights Advocacy | 3 s.h. |
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Theoretical foundations and critical issues for international human rights advocacy and international humanitarian movements.
Same as 187:180 (IS:3910). | | |
| 216:181 (HRTS:3915) Human Rights and the Arts | 3 s.h. |
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Ways in which violations of and struggle for human rights have affected and been affected by literary, musical, visual, architectural, and theatrical/dramatic arts in various countries past and present; art considered as expression, as market of identity, and as historical document.
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