Academics Overview

Penelope Van Tuyl teaches while her students look on.

The Center has offered a Minor in Human Rights for undergrads since 2016

In the Classroom and in the World

The Center for Human Rights and International Justice enhances Stanford’s human rights and international justice academic offerings and student opportunities. The Center integrates faculty research into the undergraduate curriculum, bridges study in the classroom with real-world application through internships, provides community-engaged learning opportunities, and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration across campus.

Kanani Schnider looks at map painted on the wall behind her.

Human Rights Fellows

Each summer, the Center funds around a dozen Stanford students to work with organizations around the world working on the most pressing human rights challenges. Learn more about the human rights fellowship.

The Center was instrumental in helping me fill a perceived gap in my Stanford academic experience.
Christina Schiciano smiles in front of a bunch of flowers.
Christina Schiciano
Human Rights Minor and Human Rights Fellow (US Dept. of State, Summer 2016)
Professor David Cohen speaks to two students

Student Advising

Get all your questions about the Minor in Human Rights or other Center academic programs answered by our leadership team or peer advisors.

Students in a human rights class present to their classmates.

Human Rights Courses

Explore the diverse list of courses offered across campus that count toward the Minor in Human Rights.

Students stand together and observe a capstone project.

Human Rights Capstone Projects

Dive into the research questions and innovative projects Human Rights Minors are undertaking for their capstone requirement.

Alexis Kallen stands next to Marc Tessier-Lavigne.

Meet Alexis Kallen ('18)

Alexis Kallen, a 2018 Rhodes Scholar and a 2017 Harry S. Truman Scholar, is a recent graduate in Political Science with minors in Human Rights and Spanish. Her honors thesis analyzed why international law is failing to protect refugees fleeing from Burundi into Rwanda from sexual assault, even after the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was the first court to prosecute rape as genocide. She was also Stanford's 127th Convocation speaker.

Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said of Alexis: “I am proud that our Stanford students pursue excellence not just for the sake of excellence, but to benefit humanity and the broader good. Alexis exemplifies this outlook. This year, she inspired so many of us with her moving Convocation speech. She described the breadth and depth of her studies, as well as her engagement here at Stanford, from her role in the dorms as a Resident Assistant to her travels in Rwanda as a human rights scholar. At Stanford, she put her intellect and her empathy on the line in such impressive ways as a member of our campus community and as an engaged citizen of the world.”

Kallen was an advocate against campus sexual assault at Stanford, working with the Vice Provost to set up a task force that paved and lit the "Scary Path" between two fraternities on campus. She was the chair of Stanford in Government, Stanford’s largest student group, and a regional advisor for the Western United States to Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation. 

Said Alexis of her experience with the Center: "Coming to Stanford, I didn't understand the resources available or what I needed to do to work in human rights; the Center staff helped me understand what a career in this field looks like and how to get there. They have helped me through some of my toughest academic times at Stanford, whether it be advising me on choosing a summer internship or helping me prepare for graduate school interviews -- they consistently reminded me that I had a community at Stanford that believed in me and supported the work I was doing. Personally, the Center has been a welcoming space where I feel included and valued, which is important at a school like Stanford that can feel so big at times. Looking back on my Stanford experience, the Center's community has shaped and supported me in a critical way, and I cannot imagine my Stanford journey without them."

Currently, Alexis is attending law school at Yale University after completing an M. Phil. in Development Studies at the University of Oxford. She hopes to pursue a career as an international human rights lawyer.

There’s an extraordinary amount of interest among students and faculty in thinking about different dimensions of human rights, whether it’s in the context of issues of legal accountability, the history of the human rights architecture, or the trauma created by human rights violations.
Jeremy Weinstein
Professor Jeremy Weinstein
Former Fisher Family Director of Stanford Global Studies