Undergraduate Courses

This page provides an overview of our course offerings, to help students as they make decisions and plans for the academic year ahead. Please note that this schedule will be updated periodically and may be subject to change. Students are encouraged not only to revisit this page but also to confirm the course listings in the online Directory of Courses and Vergil, where fuller course descriptions and class meeting times will be posted.
  • Fall 2023 Courses Offered by ISHR    
  • HRTS UN3001 Introduction to Human Rights
  • HRTS 3190 International Human Rights Law
  • HRTS UN3960 Refugees, Rights, and Representation
  • HRTS UN3970 Introduction to Genocide Studies
  • HRTS UN 3995 Human Rights Senior Seminar
  • HRTS GU4215 NGOs & The Human Rights Movement
  • HRTS GU4400 Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and HR
  • HRTS GU4500 Socio-Economic Rights
  • HRTS GU4600 Human Rights in the Anthropocene
  • HRTS GU4650 Children's Rights Advocacy
  • HRTS GU4950 Human Rights & Human Wrongs
  • HRTS GU4965 Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights
  • HRTS GU4970 Refugees, Citizenship, Migration
  •  
  • Courses listed as "pre-approved" under "Course Type" below may also 
  • be counted for the major or the concentration. Please submit all human rights
  • courses to ISHR for approval, prior to finalizing your schedule. 
 
Each semester, the program publishes a list of pre-approved courses that fulfill major or concentration requirements as well as a list of additional courses of potential interest. Courses that are not on the pre-approved list may also be approved for the degree if the student can demonstrate that he or she can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights in that course. We maintain this list as a courtesy to our students who seek interdisciplinary engagement.
Please note that, with the exception of certain HRTS courses, enrollment in a specific course is not guaranteed, nor is it required by ISHR to complete major/concentration requirements. It is determined solely at the discretion of the course instructor or the academic department offering the class. We advise you to identify backups, in order to ensure that you have a robust selection of courses that fulfill degree requirements. The following course list is subject to change upon receipt of additional course information. If you would like to suggest an addition or modification to this list, please email the relevant course information, including the syllabus if available, to uhrp@columbia.edu.
 

We try to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, but students should confirm course times and locations with the Directory of Classes  or the department offering the course.

Before each semester’s registration period, students should submit major or concentration worksheet to uhrp@columbia.edu in order to confirm that courses of interest will fulfill remaining degree requirements.

For additional information on requirements and course advising, please see the major and concentration requirements pages.

 

Major - Pre-approved distributional courses

In order to fulfill the distributional requirement of the major, students must take one course in three of these four categories: Politics and History; Culture and Representation; Political Theory and Philosophy; and Social and Economic Processes. Please see the major requirements for additional information about this program.
 
The following courses fulfill the distributional requirement of the major. Students wishing to take courses not on this list should refer to course advising procedure mentioned above.
 

Concentration - Pre-approved courses

All pre-approved distributional courses for the major may be counted towards the concentration.

Additional courses

These are additional courses that may be of interest to human rights students. Courses on this list, as well as others listed on the Directory of Classes, may fulfill degree requirements if the student can demonstrate that they can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights. Students who would like to count one of these courses towards the degree must consult with the program in advance to seek approval, sharing a syllabus for review. You can navigate to these courses using the drop-down menus below.

 

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Dept Course # Format Title Instructor(s) Credits
AFAS C1001 LEC Introduction to African-American Studies Fort, Nyle 4.0
AMST W3930 SEM Topics in American Studies: Freedom & Citizenship in US Montas, Roosevelt 4.0
ANTH BC3932 SEM Climate Change, Global Migration, and Human Rights Salyer, J. C. 4.0
ANTH W3846 SEM Mexico's Disappeared Practicum Lomnitz, Claudio 4.0
ARCH GU4250 SEM Colonial Practices Siddiqi, Anooradha 4.0
ARCH UN2530 LEC Life Beyond Emergency: Ecologies and Inhabitations of Migration Siddiqi, Anooradha 3.0
CSER UN3490 SEM Post 9/11 Immigration Policies OuYang, Elizabeth 4.0
CSER UN3928 SEM Colonization/Decolonization Ahmed, Manan 4.0
CSER UN3942 SEM Race and Racisms Fennell, Catherine 4.0
ECON GU4480 LEC Gender and Applied Economics Edlund, Lena 3.0
EDUC BC3040 SEM Migration, Globalization, and Education Miranda, Chandler 4.0
HIST BC3505 SEM Building Worker Power: Migrant Work and Nadasen, P. 4.0
HIST UN3518 SEM Columbia University and Slavery Jacoby, Karl 4.0
HIST UN3928 SEM Slavery/Abolition- Atlantic World Lightfoot, Natasha 4.0
HRTS BC3360 SEM Human Rights Our Bodies and the Struggle to Define Personal Autonomy Brown, Widney 4.0
HRTS BC3850 SEM Human Rights and Public Health Brown, Widney 4.0
HRTS G4215 SEM NGOs and the Human Rights Movement: Strategies, Successes and Challenges Bickford, Louis 3.0
HRTS G4400 SEM Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Human Rights Currah, Paisley 3.0
HRTS G4500 SEM Socio-Economic Rights Dugard, Jackie 3.0
HRTS G4950 SEM Human Rights and Human Wrongs Cronin, Bruce 3.0
HRTS GR6800 SEM International Human Rights Law Dugard, Jackie 3.0
HRTS GU4600 SEM Human Rights in the Anthropocene Chasin, Noah 3.0
HRTS GU4650 SEM Children's Rights Advocacy Becker, Jo and Michael G. Bochenek 3.0
HRTS GU4970 SEM Refugees, Citizenship, Migration Molavi, Shourideh 3.0
HRTS UN3001 LEC Introduction to Human Rights Nathan, Andrew J. 3.0
HRTS UN3190 SEM International Human Rights Law Cooper, Belinda 3.0
HRTS UN3934 SEM Seeking Sanctuary in New York City Frank-Vitale, Amelia 5.0
HRTS UN3960 SEM Refugees, Rights, and Representation Wyman-McCarthy, Tim 3.0
HRTS UN3970 SEM Introduction to Genocide Studies Mitoma, Glenn 3.0
HRTS UN3995 SEM Human Rights Senior Seminar Molavi, Shourideh 3.0
HRTS W3994 SEM Human Rights Senior Seminar: Research Methods Holland, Tracey 4.0
HRTS W4965 SEM Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights Rajan, Julie 3.0
MDES GU4357 LEC War, Genocide, and Their Aftermath: Comp. Perspectives Mouradian, Khatchig 4.0
POLS BC3410 SEM Human Rights in a Diverse World Gundogdu, Ayten 4.0
POLS BC3411 COL Building Peace Autesserre, Severine 4.0
POLS BC3521 LEC Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Franzese, Paula 3.0
POLS UN1601 LEC International Politics Schlesinger, J. 4.0
POLS UN3002 LEC Human Rights & Immigration Gundogdu, Ayten 3.0
POLS UN3623 LEC Ending War & Building Peace Daly, Sarah 3.0
POLS UN3921 SEM American Politics Seminar: Equality and the Law Amdur, Robert 4.0
POLS UN3921 SEM American Politics Seminar: Issues of Race and Ethnicity in Am.Poltcs Vargas-Ramos, Carlos 4.0
PSYC GU4612 SEM Frontiers of Justice Sorett, Ayanna 4.0
SDEV PS5040 LEC ESG-Aligned Corporate Governance Thurston, Jessica 3.0
SOCI BC3248 LEC Race, Ethnicity, and Education in the US Anastasi, A. 3.0
SOCI BC3750 SEM How Race Gets Under Our Skin: The Sociology of Race Health, and Biomedicine Reed, Domonique M. 4.0
SOCI BC3931 SEM Social Justice and Human Rights Seminar Brown, Widney 3.0
SOCI UN3235 LEC Social Movements Anastasi, Andrew S. 3.0
SOCI UN3937 SEM Sociology of Human Rights McGunnigle-Gonzales, Rosemary 4.0
SUMA K5888 LEC Geographies of Environmental Justice and Sustainability Williams, John 3.0
WMST GU4000 SEM Genealogies of Feminism: Vision and Difference Hirsch, Marianne 4.0