Planning Notice of Intent (Pnoi) For

COVER SHEET PLANNING NOTICE OF INTENT (PNOI) FOR NEW GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS

Program Information Academic Unit Name: Division of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs

Institution: University of Washington

College/School: School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

Campus: Bothell Seattle xx Tacoma

Proposed Degree Title: Masters in Human Rights

Proposed Degree If applicable Option(s):

Proposed CIP Code: Total Quarter 50 Credits:

Proposed Start Autumn 2017 Date: (Quarter and year) Projected Enrollment (FTE) in Year Full Enrollment by One: 10 Year: 2020-2021 ; 40 (#FTE (Academic (#FTE) ) Year) Proposed New Tuition Tier or cost: 1 Funding:

Funding Source: xxx State Fee-based Other FTE

Mode of Delivery / Locations xx Campus Tacoma Delivery (enter locations) Off-site (enter location(s)) Distance Learning (enter formats) Other (describe if applicable)

Scheduling Attendance Options X Day Classes Evening Classes Full-time Other (describe) Weekend Classes Part-time

Contact Information (Academic Department Representative) Name: Bonnie J Becker Title: Associate Dean of Curriculum and Academic Initiatives Address: Box 358436 Telephon 253-692-4546 e Email: [email protected]

______Endorsement by Dean or Chancellor Date Planning Notice of Intent (PNOI): Master of Arts in Human Rights Theory and Practice November 2015

Program Description and Rationale:

The proposed Human Rights program will be an advanced, full-time Master of Arts program aimed at advancing the theory and practice of human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. Human rights are an important dimension of politics, public discourse and community activism – in Washington State, nationally and internationally. The University of Washington and its Tacoma campus have a longstanding commitment to research, teaching, and advancement of human rights locally, regionally, and internationally. This innovative and uncommon program will take advantage of our already significant resources to emphasize the inherent connections between theory and practice in the field of human rights. Because the practice of human rights has broadened considerably beyond the field of law (or any single field), there is an increased demand for individuals who have a deep understanding of the issues, controversies and challenges of international human rights.

Human rights should be approached in an interdisciplinary manner that challenges traditional intellectual and practical divides. Both concept and paradigm, human rights addresses the phenomenon of globalization while stressing individual human dignity. It assumes a universality of human necessity and experience, while simultaneously demanding serious examination of the details of particular experience. It is concerned with the relationship between formal law and politics, but also immersed in ethics and principled practice. The study and practice of human rights challenges conventional understandings of the relationship between theory and practice. It also encourages reconceptualizing the relationship between scholarship, teaching, and society. For these reasons, human rights – in the ways it is conceptualized by scholars and operationalized by practitioners – pushes us to rethink our epistemology, the context of the university, and the structures of government and society. The University of Washington Tacoma has always sought to educate students in a way that transcends disciplinary boundaries, as well as other boundaries, such as between university and community or theory and practice. Because the practice of human rights brings together local community concerns with global issues and communities, it is a natural field of inquiry for a community- centered, metropolitan university like the University of Washington Tacoma.

Program Objectives and Structure

Upon successful completion of the MA program, students will:  demonstrate an understanding of the structure of international human rights as it is operationalized in the United Nations, other international and regional intergovernmental organizations, and domestic institutions.

 demonstrate knowledge of the major human rights instruments/law (e.g., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other treaties, conventions, protocols and declarations).

 demonstrate an understanding of how the international human rights regime is practiced through NGOs and transnational advocacy networks and recognize how advocates and other human rights professionals put human rights ideals and law into practice.

 learn and demonstrate an understanding of the basic history of international human rights from its roots in various cultural traditions, including the Enlightenment, to the present.

 be able to apply the human rights paradigm to the analysis of other contextual historical and theoretical study.

 acquire basic tools for advocacy and human rights dissemination.

Students in the Human Rights M.A. will have a well-defined core of coursework that will help them to cultivate fluency in and about the international human rights regime. The program will include three required content courses, a required methods course, additional electives, and the option of a thesis or practicum. The four required core courses are:  Human Rights Law and Politics  Theories and Philosophies of Human Rights  Human Rights Methods and Practice  Human Rights in Interdisciplinary Perspective (capstone)

In addition, graduate elective courses will be developed and offered on specific human rights topics and issues. Such offerings will include: social, economic and labor rights; gender and sexuality in human rights; regional human rights issues and approaches; human rights and globalization; human rights and religion; human rights and the environment; human rights in the US; transnational advocacy movements and NGOs; humanitarian law and humanitarian intervention; rights of persons with disabilities; group rights, peoples’ rights, ethnicity and racial minorities. Students will also be able to take related electives at the other UW campus programs.

Students in the program will complete 50 credits for the M.A. degree, including the three core content courses and one methods/practice course. Students in the M.A. program will also complete either a thesis or a practicum in human rights. Students who are admitted to the program but do not have previous academic study in human rights may be required to take supplementary foundational coursework. In addition students will be required to select additional elective courses suitable to their areas of research and practice in human rights.

Because of the emphasis on integrating human rights theory and practice, the program will regularly invite and support visiting scholars and practitioners active in international human rights. Drawing upon the professional and scholarly networks of PPPA faculty, the program will invite prominent scholars from various disciplines who focus on human rights in their teaching and research. This will include making use of existing relationships with the University of Frankfurt (through the HI-NORM research cluster) and cultivating additional relationships nationally and internationally. In addition, the program will invite prominent practitioners active in human rights work in intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental institutions. These visiting scholars and practitioners will participate in the program through teaching and advising students, supporting student research and practicum opportunities, engaging in dialogue with one another, and offering public lectures.

Demand for the Program:

There is demand for human rights programming on campus, across the three campuses of the University, in the community, nationally and internationally. The University of Washington Tri-campus Human Rights Minor, which has been in place since 2001, has consistently been one of the most popular minors at UW Tacoma, with approximately 150 graduates in the last ten years (and another twenty expected in the coming year). Including the Bothell and Seattle campuses, the human rights minor has had almost 800 graduates in the past ten years.

On the UW Tacoma campus, human rights courses are also consistently in demand. Since 2008, human rights courses in IAS (and PPPA) have served over 1100 students (in 9 courses with a specific focus on international human rights). In recent exit surveys, graduates of PPPA have expressed strong interest in attending a graduate human rights program at UW Tacoma.

This graduate program in human rights will attract new students and will provide employers with educated workers who will be prepared to work in government (at local, state and national levels), intergovernmental organizations, international and domestic NGOs and advocacy organizations, humanitarian aid agencies, philanthropic organizations, education, journalism, law, social work, business, the military, and other public service. The program will also be attractive to and prepare students for further study in the law, social sciences, health sciences, and military sciences.

There are currently only a handful of Masters in Human Rights programs in the United States (University of Denver, Columbia University, Arizona State University) as well as several graduate certificate programs (e.g., University of Connecticut, Boston College). There are undergraduate and MA-level programs in human rights in most European countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. Canada has just launched its first MA program in human rights (Winnipeg). There is also demand for increased graduate programming on the UW Tacoma campus. This program is a response to that demand.

Preliminary Budget and Resources

The School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and the Division of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs (PPPA) will provide an excellent institutional home for a graduate program in human rights. Several full-time, tenured and tenure track faculty are active scholars and teachers of human rights (including one hire specifically in this area in 2014). Additional staffing will be necessary both to add to the existing areas of expertise and to fill in for existing faculty who would redirect between 20 and 70% of their effort to the program. The program will need to hire two additional tenure track faculty at the assistant professor rank for research and teaching in the areas of human rights and globalization and of regional human rights (Asia-Pacific).

Projected enrolment is 10 FTE the first year, expanding to 35-45 FTE over a 5 year horizon. In line with comparable MA programs in the UW system, tuition will be at the Tier 1 level.

Below is a list of required resources, a brief explanation for each, and the related estimated costs:

Resource Description Budget Faculty and Staff  Tenure Track First hire to begin in $70K + benefits (x 2 Autumn 2017, second to positions) start in Autumn 2018

 Faculty Coordinator Two course release per $5000 x2 year, beginning in 2016

 Administrative 75-100% FTE $35-50K + benefits Support/Advising  Visiting Scholars and Honoraria, travel, lodging, $10K Practitioners etc.

Library Acquisitions to collection $5K and training of staff

Travel Additional international $2-3K travel in support of program

The program will also seek separate funding to host a series of launch events in 2016- 2017, including a human rights symposium.