Our Mission
The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights (GCHR) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha was established Dec. 1, 2017. It is a faculty led unit in the College of Arts and Sciences designed to facilitate and catalyze increased human rights-related academic offerings, research, as well as local and international community outreach, partnerships and programming. The GCHR builds on existing strengths across multiple UNO colleges and departments, and a longstanding lectureship in human rights sponsored by UNO’s Religious Studies program. It is intended to foster the interdisciplinary partnerships essential to the study of human rights. The GCHR was created in tandem with the new Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights.
The GCHR is a faculty-governed, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization that promotes the understanding of issues through teaching, research and creative activity, and community engagement both locally and globally. Goals include the following:
- To provide a forum to explore the complexities of human rights, building on existing strengths and interests of faculty and students at UNO;
- To provide support for teaching and curricular development related to human rights;
- To provide support for faculty and student research, creative activity, and community engagement projects related to human rights;
- To provide transformative experiences for students through engaged learning;
- To identify collaborative opportunities with faculty and/or units of other campus within the University of Nebraska system;
- To work with local, regional, national, and global policymakers to raise awareness and understanding of human rights issues.