Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Graduate Specialization
The graduate specialization in human rights and humanitarian affairs is designed to offer our graduate students an international, interdisciplinary perspective on human rights. Our graduate students use their training in human rights to inform their coursework and research and to build bridges between their primary scholarly and professional networks and the human rights community.
Participating MA Departments: Anthropology and Geography, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science.
Participating Ph.D. Departments: History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science.
Masters Degree Program Requirements
The Human Right and Humanitarian Affairs Specialization is available to any student pursuing a Masters degree within one of the participating departments and programs. Successful completion of the requirements will be indicated on the student’s final transcript in parentheses following the name of the student’s academic discipline, for example, Political Science (Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs).
Each student will be required to complete the following:
- A masters degree in one of the participating departments or programs;
- 12 credit hours of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs courses from the student’s discipline, and at least one department outside the student’s discipline, including 3 credit hours of core courses and 3-6 credit hours from List A courses (see below); and 3-6 credit hours from List B courses (see below).
Doctoral Degree Program Requirements
The Human Right and Humanitarian Affairs Specialization is available to any student pursuing a doctoral degree within one of the participating departments and programs. Successful completion of the requirements will be indicated on the student’s final transcript in parentheses following the name of the student’s academic discipline, for example, Political Science (Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs).
Each student will be required to complete the following:
- A doctoral degree in one of the participating departments or programs;
- 18 credit hours of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs courses from the student’s discipline and at least two departments outside the student’s discipline, including 3 credit hours of core courses (see below); a minimum of 6 credit hours from List A (see below); and the remaining credit hours (between 3 and 9) from list B (see below);
- a doctoral dissertation relating to human rights.
Courses completed by a student for the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs specialization at the Masters level may be counted toward meeting the requirements for the specialization at the Ph.D. level.
Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Graduate Courses
The courses that can be comprise the human rights graduate specialization are listed below. Course descriptions and prerequisites can be found in the appropriate departmental listings. With approval by the Advisory Board, a student may take courses cross-listed with an outside department to meet program requirements, if the faculty member teaching the course is not in the student’s home department. Up to two special topics courses with a human rights component may be substituted for courses in Lists A and B, pending approval from the Advisory Board.
Core Courses
- Political Science 965 International Human Rights
- Law 616 International Human Rights Law
List A
- Political Science 960 International Law and Organization
- Political Science 885 Contemporary Political Thought
- Anthropology 876 Human Rights, Environment, Development
- Law 714 Comparative Law: International Gender Issues
List B
- Anthropology 851 Indians of North America
- Anthropology 874 Applied and Development Anthropology
- Anthropology 820 Ethnic Conflict and Identity
- English 845 Ethnic Literature (when taught as Studies in the African Diaspora)
- Geography 933 Seminar in Geography and Anthropology
- History 829 History of Fascism in Europe
- History 839 The Holocaust
- History 878 Pro-Seminar in Latin American Studies
- History 880 China since Ming Era
- Modern Languages 854 Anti-Semitism in Russia and the West
- Philosophy 823 or 920 Advanced Ethics or Ethical Theory
- Philosophy 825 or 925 Political and Social Philosophy or Social and Political Philosophy
- Political Science 860 Pro-Seminar in International Relations
- Political Science 873 Problems in International Law and Organization
- Political Science 877 Israel and the Middle East