News posted under Students

Members of last year's human rights internship cohort gathered on Tuesday on the third floor of Ida Noyes Hall to look back and reflect on how their internships, all supported by $5,000 Pozen Center grants, complemented their coursework, deepened their engagement with human rights, and exposed them to new interests and professional pathways.

In presentations and question-and-answer panels led by Pozen Center faculty, they spoke about the work they did, the challenges they negotiated, and the advice they had for future interns about how to get the most out of the experience. Audience members, including members of this year’s cohort, heard direct accounts of what it was like to support human rights with research and with advocacy, from within large bureaucracies and with grassroots organizations.

Davis interned with Trust After Betrayal (TAB), a London-based non-profit that conducts research on communities where trust has been weakened or destroyed by violence. The organization’s work focuses primarily on the reintegration of ex-combatants into communities from which they’ve been alienated, but also on the challenges of joining new communities.

Supported by a flexible Pozen Center grant of $5,000, Davis traveled to Houston, where he assisted TAB in their work advancing the integration of former Afghan special forces (ANASOC) members who were evacuated after the American military withdrew from their country in 2021.

Human rights major Promise Ngirwe spent the summer learning what it takes to fight for human rights on the ground under difficult circumstances.

As an intern with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), supporting their Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, Ngirwe got an up-close look at the logistical work that goes into documenting rights violations and protecting survivors.

Just Released: Pozen Center Director's Report highlighting the events and accomplishments of the past year and sharing some of our plans as we move into the new academic year.

We are seeking a UChicago student to help promote and implement Pozen Center events and activities. Podcast and video editing experience is helpful, but not required. The position is at least 10 hours/week.

“I wish more people studying social work at UChicago knew about human rights internships,” says Tanya Estrada Gomez. “In my experience, they go together really well.”

Estrada Gomez, currently enrolled in a dual-degree graduate program between the Crown Family School of Social Work and the Harris School of Public Policy, spent the summer as a programming intern at the Midwest regional office of the Hispanic Federation, supported by a $5,000 flexible Pozen Center grant. While most human rights internship grantees are College undergrads, the program is also open to Crown students.

Upadrasta's journey to becoming a human rights minor began with one course, "The Rights of Immigrants and Refugees in Practice." As a child of immigrants, she was fascinated by human rights as a way to understand how other immigrant communities' stories compared to her own.
 
This summer, supported by a Pozen internship grant, she worked at the Cook County Department of Human Rights and Ethics, using skills she honed in Pozen courses to help develop possible changes to human rights ordinance right here in Cook County. Read more to learn about the contributions she made, her experiences doing on-the-ground human rights outreach, and how her experience exposed her to possible new professional paths.

Ever since taking her first human rights course, Theodoly has used rights as a framework to deepen her understanding of the world, of literature, and of her own professional path. 

This summer, supported by a Pozen internship grant, she worked at a law firm in Cleveland, helping to obtain and analyze evidence for a major excessive force lawsuit against a jail. Read more to learn about the crucial evidence she uncovered, and how her experience embodied the Pozen approach to bridging theory and practice.

The Pozen Center is looking for Teaching Assistants for International Human Rights Law and Practice 

and Militant Democracy and the Preventative State.

Reflection on her internship by Lena Maghraoui (Environmental Science, AB'25) who served as a Pozen Center human rights summer 2022 intern at the World Commission on Environmental Law.

Doctoral students whose research intersects with human rights themes are invited to apply for this competitive yearlong fellowship opportunity. Fellows will meet throughout the academic year, typically twice per quarter, with members of the Pozen Center faculty. At the end of the academic year, Fellows will have made tangible progress on a piece of work and present it in the Doctoral Seminar.

Doctoral students interested in lecturing a course of their own design this academic year should apply!

The fellowship award supports one year of work after graduation at a non-governmental organization, government agency, or international body dedicated to human rights.

Spots are still open for this class taught by Nory Peters!

With research funding from the Pozen Family Center of Human Rights, Sociology Ph.D. student Reyna Hernandez aims to further understand how former prison inmates who were wrongfully convicted and now exonerated experienced incarceration. This work shows how the legal system’s miscarriages of justice perpetually transform the prison experience.

The Pozen Center is looking for Teaching Assistants for our Winter Quarter 2022 course, Health and Human Rights, HMRT 21400!

The Human Rights Startup Fund offers UChicago students financial support for new and innovative human rights projects and events.

The Pozen Center is currently hiring for two full-time and two graduate student roles.

Congratulations to the 2021-22 cohort of Human Rights Lab BA Fellows!

The Pozen Center is proud to support this inspiring group of students from across the College and Graduate Schools!

Watch the Pozen Center’s 2020-21 Human Rights BA Fellows present their thesis research findings and analyses.

Check out great photos from this year’s graduates alongside messages from Pozen Center faculty.

Congratulations to the inaugural winner and two honorable mentions for the Pozen Center Prize for Best BA Thesis on Race and Human Rights!

Learn about the work of Thomas Hagan, AB’21, our 2021 recipient of the Dr. Aizik Wolf Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship in Human Rights!

The Pozen Center is pleased to announce a new prize for excellence in BA essay projects about race and human rights in the United States or globally.