Annual Symposium and Reception Celebrating Human Rights Work
May 14th marked another special occasion for UWCHR as our friends and affiliates gathered for the 6th annual spring symposium and awards reception, featuring a new initiative titled,Rethinking Punishment: Human Rights in an Age of Mass Incarceration. The program began with the announcement of the recipients of the Center’s two fellowships; the 2015 Abe Osheroff and Gunnel Clark Endowed Human Rights Fund and the Jennifer Caldwell Endowed Fund were awarded to Jessica Ramirez and Ursula Mosqueira, respectively (see below for details about their exciting human rights work). Staff, volunteers and many others affiliated with the Center were recognized for their hard work and dedication. The celebration continued with Divisional Dean of Social Sciences Judy Howard, who introduced two brand new endowments that will support graduate student work in human rights beginning in 2016: The Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Endowed Fund for Human Rights and the Lisa Sable Brown Endowed Fund for Human Rights. More information about the fellowships and application procedures will be available on the website in the fall. A call for applications will be issued in spring 2016.
The second part of the evening featured the Rethinking Punishment initiative, which aims to enhance the public conversation about the fiscal, social and moral costs of the prison boom in the United States. A joint project of the Center for Human Rights and the Law, Societies, and Justice Program, Rethinking Punishment will integrate teaching, research and advocacy to enable students, faculty, and community organizations to collaborate on projects to stimulate new thinking about punishment policy in Washington State.[…]