International Human Rights Program

Webster University is a leader in human rights education, offering one of the only undergraduate human rights degrees in the United States. Its program in International Human Rights – part of the Department of Philosophy – also offers a minor and a certificate option for students who would like to incorporate human rights into their area of study. Interdisciplinary courses are taught by faculty from across the Webster community, and co-curricular events sponsored by the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies often bring leading scholars and activists to Webster campuses. Webster students may also learn more about human rights while studying abroad, editing an international journal of human rights called Righting Wrongs, and helping to organize the annual human rights conference in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Webster’s human rights degree program was launched in 2005, thanks to a Title VI grant and the dedication of the late Professor Art Sandler (Philosophy) and Professor Kelly-Kate Pease (History, Politics, and International Relations). The certificate option, which was first offered during the 1996-97 academic year, established the program’s tradition of interdisciplinarity and cross-campus collaboration. Today, human rights courses may be identified by their HRTS prefix, and human rights course options are offered at a number of Webster’s campuses around the world. Human rights graduates may undertake graduate studies related to human rights, as well as undertake rights-focused work at non-governmental organizations, government offices, corporations, and educational institutions.

Masthead photo: A UN peacekeepers holds a child as her mother is helped down a relocation truck in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In preparation for Hurrican Tomas, the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) have moved the residents of a tent camp, displaced since the January 2010 earthquake, to a more secure location. (Photo: UN Photo/Logan Abassi)