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Weissberg Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice
Understanding and defending human rights.
The Weissberg Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice, established in 1999, brings to campus every year a distinguished individual who has made important contributions to understanding and defending human rights on the international stage.
Weissberg Chairs contribute new perspectives to the teaching and learning taking place on the Beloit College campus and typically spend from one week to 10 days in residence. Their residencies serve as a catalyst for conversations across campus and throughout the disciplines taught at Beloit College about the importance of preparing students to understand, promote, and defend human rights.
The Weissberg Professorship is underwritten and supported by business leader Marvin Weissberg and his daughter, Nina Weissberg’84.
Residents
Joan Donovan
2023-2024
Assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University, and former research director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media Media Politics and Public Policy. More about Joan Donovan
Wayne Au
2022-2023
Professor and interim dean in the School of Educational Studies at University of Washington Bothell. More about Wayne Au
Jason De León
2021-2022
Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project that studies the realities of clandestine migration between Latin America and the United States. More about Jason De León
Joan Carling
2020-2021
Human rights activist and environmentalist who has defended the rights of native and marginalized peoples for over two decades More about Joan Carling
Joel Simon
2018-2019
Executive director of Committee to Protect Journalists and advocate of press freedom. More about Joel Simon
Steven Hawkins
2017-2018
Social justice leader and litigator dedicated to improving the criminal justice system. More about Steven Hawkins
Eskinder Negash
2016-2017
Serves as senior vice president for Global Engagement for the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), and has worked for more than 35 years on behalf of refugees and immigrants. More about Eskinder Negash
Susan Bissell
2015-2016
Focused on the rights of children. In January 2016, she was named director a.i. of UNICEF’s Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. Bissell has spent more than twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF More about Susan Bissell
James Anaya
2014-2015
Participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was the lead counsel for the indigenous parties in the case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua. More about James Anaya
Vandana Shiva
2013-2014
A prolific author, her most recent books include Staying Alive (2010, South End Press) and Making Peace With The Earth (2013, Pluto Press). Her many honors include the Right Livelihood Award, which recognizes and supports those “offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today.” More about Vandana Shiva
Diego García-Sayán
2012-2013
Former president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights whose areas of interest include transitional justice and political change in Latin America. More about Diego García-Sayán
Yuri Dzhibladze
2011-2012
Founder and president of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, a Russian public policy and advocacy NGO. More about Yuri Dzhibladze
Ali Allawi
2010-2011
Served as both Minister of Trade and Minister of Defense, and he served as Minister of Finance in the Iraqi Transitional Government. Has also served as a professor at Oxford University and a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. More about Ali Allawi
Sheila Dinotshe Tlou
2009-2010
Formerly a parliament member and Minister of Health of the Republic of Botswana, she has conducted research and taught courses to nursing, pre-medical, and social science students on gender issues in HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and aging and older persons. More about Sheila Dinotshe Tlou
Elisabeth Rhyne
2008-2009
A leading expert and researcher in the field of microfinance whose research has resulted in new financial products and microfinance programs in Africa and India. More about Elisabeth Rhyne
Jan Egeland
2007-2008
Deputy director of Human Rights Watch and the director of Human Rights Watch Europe and Named in 2006 by Time Magazine as one of “the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.” More about Jan Egeland
Richard J. Goldstone
2006-2007
Seen as one of the world’s foremost human rights champions and served on the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994-2003, chaired the International Independent Inquiry Commission on Kosovo in 1999, and was the first chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia (1994-1996). More about Richard J. Goldstone
Raufa Hassan Al-Sharki
2005-2006
A noted academic and human rights activist from Yemen who served as professor of mass media and director of the Women’s Studies Center at the University of Sana’a. More about Raufa Hassan Al-Sharki
Anthony Zinni
2004-2005
Retired marine corps general who served as special envoy for former Secretary of State Colin Powell in the Middle East and called “one of the most respected and outspoken military leaders of the past two decades” by CBS News, More about Anthony Zinni
Dai Qing
2003-2004
Chinese dissident intellectual, environmentalist, and investigative journalist. rained as a guided missile engineer, Dai originally worked in Chinese military intelligence before becoming an independent journalist. More about Dai Qing
Roy Gutman
2002-2003
Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting and has also been a diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek and director of American University’s Crimes of War Project. More about Roy Gutman
Alain Destexhe
2001-2002
The first deputy chairman of the Belgian Senate’s Committee of Foreign Affairs and has published extensively on international humanitarian issues. More about Alain Destexhe
Carlos Alzugaray
2000-2001
A Cuban diplomat and scholar with 40 years of experience representing the Cuban government around the world. Honored for his teaching by the Cuban Teachers and Scientific Workers’ Union. More about Carlos Alzugaray
Hanan Ashrawi
1999-2000
One of five women elected to the 88-member Palestinian governing organization in 1996 and served for two years in the cabinet of President Yasser Arafat. More about Hanan Ashrawi