HRE Workshop Participantsd
August 6/7, 2009
Keynote Speakers
David Kaye is the Executive Director of the UCLA School of Law International Human Rights Program. He teaches International Human Rights and directs an International Human Rights Clinic. For more than a decade, David Kaye served as an international lawyer with the U.S. State Department, responsible for issues as varied as human rights, international humanitarian law, the use of force, international organizations, international litigation and claims, nuclear nonproliferation, sanctions law and policy, and U.S. foreign relations law. He was a legal adviser to the American Embassy in The Hague, where he worked with the international criminal tribunals and acted as counsel to the United States in several cases before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. From 1999 to 2002 he was the principal staff attorney on humanitarian law, handling issues such as the application of the law to detainees in Guantanamo Bay and serving on several U.S. delegations to international negotiations and conferences. The State Department honored him with four of its prestigious Superior Honor Awards.
David has taught courses in international law and human rights at Georgetown University and Whittier Law School. He has also written numerous articles and book chapters in the area of international human rights, and has published essays and op-eds in such publications as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, Middle East Insight and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Before law school, David did freelance writing from the former Soviet Union, examining the impact on minority communities of the dissolution of the USSR and the independence of the states of Central Asia. During the first Gulf War, he worked in Washington with a leading Middle East think tank.
Todd Jennings, Ph.D. () is a professor in the College of Education at California State University San Bernardino. He teaches courses in development psychology, educational psychology, and diversity. The author of numerous publications, his work focuses on human rights education and the preparation of education professionals regarding issues of human diversity.
Felisa Tibbitts () is director and co-founder of Human Rights Education Associates (HREA), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to education and learning about human rights (http://www.hrea.org). She has supported national curricular reform efforts in human rights, law-related and civic education programming in Romania, Albania, Estonia, Ukraine, Croatia, Morocco and China, and has been involved in teacher trainings in 20 countries. Ms. Tibbitts has published extensively on the topic of human rights education and is a consultative expert for the Council of Europe, UNICEF, UNESCO, OSCE, the Open Society Institute and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is Visiting Professor at the U.N. University of Peace and Adjunct Faculty at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
MSMC Sociology Department Faculty
Department Background: The Sociology Department at MSMC is unique in that it states as its mission to educate students from a social justice and human rights perspective and that each graduate will become an active advocate of human rights in the world, both as citizens and professionals. This means our curriculum is infused with advocacy for social justice/human rights across most all courses.
Sociology is the department “home” of four majors: Sociology (with six specializations: Medical Sociology, Criminology, Social Services, Human Rights and Global Studies, Communications, and Race, Class and Gender), Social Work, Gerontology, and Film & Social Justice (FSJ). The Department is the second largest department at the College in terms of majors (Nursing is #1).
Charles Bunce, MA., Humanities, University of Chicago; Currently completing M.F.A. in Film & Television. Has taught at MSMC for 8 years and was Activities Director of Federal Title V grant for 5 years (as a Hispanic-serving institution, the goal of this grant was to increase successful transition from community college to a bachelor’s degree of Hispanics). Courses Bunce teaches include Diversity in Society (emphasizing U.S. diversity according to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, as well as other forms of social, economic, and political identity); Thanatology, which examines cultural variations in familial and cultural approaches and understandings of end-of-life issues. Charles also teaches film courses, including Film Production, History of Film, Media Communication (a survey course on contemporary communication methods and their implications in society); and Disney, Inc., a critical analysis of the methods and impact of large media corporations on society. Bunce’s social justice-related projects have included the media’s impact on female body image, the Santa Susana nuclear meltdown (“A Nuclear Familly”), the massacre of the Nahuatl Indians of El Salvador (film and sound editor and consultant for author Marcos Villatoro; a documentary is currently in production, “Tamale Road”); and the newly formed “Save Our Schools” group in Los Angeles. In addition, Bunce continues to film, edit, and produce short films, fundraising trailers, and promotional videos for various organizations. Areas of social justice/human rights expertise: Race, class, gender, sexual identity and age, primarily from a national perspective; and, the media’s influence on society, both nationally and globally. Email: .
Note: Our film program focuses on documentary production, and all student work is non-fiction and social justice in orientation. For example, each year film students advocate for a non-profit organization as part of their introduction to film production course experience. The mission of the film program is to educate future filmmakers who will become human rights advocates.
Pam Haldeman, Ph.D., U.S.C., Sociology (specializations were social stratification and marriage and family therapy); M.A., U.S.C., Marriage and Family Therapy. Tenured, full professor at MSMC; Director, Film & Social Justice Program; Program Assessment Coordinator for Department; Former Chair, Sociology; and, director for institutional grants, including from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation (building civic engagement and responsibility and developing a service-learning program at MSMC), 3M (developing a Film & Social Justice Program), Irvine Foundation (increasing diversity of faculty), American Association of Colleges and Universities (Racial Legacies and Learning Initiative), California Association of Higher Education, and American Association of Higher Education. Haldeman developed the service-learning program at MSMC, which became an all-college, across-the-curriculum program. She wrote, filmed, directed, and produced a documentary on the social justice legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph at MSMC and is a long-time member of the Advisory Board of the Bridging Cultures: U.S.-China Program, which each year brings a visiting scholar from China to the U.S. with the goal to build increased cross-cultural understanding. Worked with Pam Bruns since 2000 in developing a human rights education program for high school and college students. Director, annual Human Rights Film Festival. Currently working with Bruns in collaborative initiative to bring high school and college students together (HRW STF, FSJ and SOC DEPT. students) to advocate for human rights. Haldeman teaches Quantitative Research Methods, Internship, and Couples. Taught Majority-Minority Relations and Medical Sociology for 10 years. Areas of expertise on social justice/human rights topics: Education, gender, and healthcare inequality, issues related to globalization, and sustainable development. Email: or .
Sande Harte, Ph.D., U.S.C., Sociology (specializations were social stratification and marriage and family therapy); tenured, full professor at MSMC; Chair, Sociology Department, MSMC; and, Chair of Curriculum Committee. Sande has directed a number of institutional grants at MSMC, including The PEW Charitable Trusts Award (a national collaboration on the development of academic electronic portfolios), Irvine Foundation Diversity in Higher Education, Culpepper Foundation (improving education with technology), Weingart Foundation (technology and learning), Darling Foundation (technology in education), Edison Grant (for high school-college student mentoring program), Pillsbury Foundation (for high school-college student mentoring), Burlington Foundation (for high school-college student mentoring), and Federal Title V (increasing retention and success among minority students in college). Teaching responsibilities include Sociology of the Family, Urban Sociology, Criminology, Sociological Theory and Sociology of Violence. Areas of expertise in social justice/human rights topics: Inequality of women, the juvenile justice system, the death penalty, urban poverty, the impact of economics on families, both nationally and globally. Email: .
Julianne McMurtry, J.D. Loyola; B.A., Gerontology, MSMC. She is Coordinator for the Weekend College Program for the Department. After completing her law degree and passing the bar (first attempt), she worked as legal counsel for A.A.R.P. prior to joining MSMC faculty in the Sociology Department. In the aftermath of Katrina, she joined a legal team in the New Orleans area to provide law-related counseling for victims and their families. She teaches Human Rights and Women and Children’s Rights, Social Stratification, Environmental Studies, Social Movements, and Ethics for Human Services. Areas of expertise on social justice/human rights topics: Healthcare access, elder abuse and other gerontological subjects, national and global women and children’s rights, and environmental issues. Email: .
Michelle Melendres, M.S.W., Columbia University; B.A. Sociology and Gerontology, MSMC; Coordinator for Social Work and Gerontology Programs; Advisor, Hawaiian Club; Co-Advisor for SAGA (a student and alum professional organization of Department). Michelle is a member of the Advisory Board for the Bridging Cultures: U.S.-China Program. On the community level, she is actively involved in ELLAS, an advocacy organization for young Latinas. She is also currently engaged in developing an advocacy organization for Filipinos in Southern California. Michelle teaches Majority-Minority Relations, Case Management (for social workers and future non-profit management students), Diversity in Aging, Qualitative Research Methods, Introduction to Social Work (an advocacy-oriented profession), and Sociological Perspectives (introductory sociology). Areas of expertise in social justice/human rights: As a native Hawaiian of Filipino descent, Michelle is interested in race/ethnic-related and elder human rights issues and global human rights, particularly in the far east (she travels extensively to Asia, with at least yearly trips to South Korea and Japan). Email: .
Amanda Romero, M.S.W., U.S.C. (area of concentration was Industrial Social Work, which examines labor relations, employee rights, and the structure of organizations); B.A., Sociology, MSMC; currently completing Ph.D. in Education, Cal Lutheran University, in the field of education leadership with a focus on Latinos’ success in higher education. Program Director, Health and Human Services Associate of Arts, MSMC. Teaches Multicultural Issues in Healthcare, Introduction to Human Services, Organizational Communication, Sociological Perspectives, Child and Community, and Sociology of Children. Amanda collaborates closely with the Learning Resource Center on the Doheny Campus in working to ensure the success of underprepared minority students at MSMC. Coordinates screening of Human Rights Film Festival films on Doheny Campus. Last year, Amanda attended Oxford University roundtable on the topic of international race relations and inequality. Areas of social justice/human rights expertise: As a second generation, bilingual Latina, Amanda is interested in race/ethnic, gender, and social class equality, as well as educational issues for the underrepresented and fairness in the workplace, both nationally and globally. Email: .
Magdalena Rodriguez, M.A. Educational Counseling, National University; B.A. Criminal Justice, Cal State Fullerton; B.A., Human Services, with an emphasis in Social Work, Cal State Fullerton. Support Advisor for 5 year Federal Title V grant (coordinated participants’ involvement and retention between community colleges and MSMC), and instructor in Sociology Department. Professional background prior to MSMC includes working with at-risk youth in Orange County Probation Department, counseling juvenile probationers and their families, and facilitating access to support resources for them. Courses Maggie teaches include Youth and Society, U.S. Women of Color, Sociological Perspectives, and Juvenile Delinquency. Areas of expertise in social justice/human rights: Youth and the criminal justice system, women’s rights, and issues of inequality among Latinos, with a focus on educational retention and success. Email: .
HRW Student Task Force Teachers and Facilitators
Pam Bruns, Volunteer Director, HRW STF () , was a journalist, public education reform activist and teacher (3rd grade through college) before serving as Director of HRW in Southern California from 1996-2002. She broadened support for HRW in California by establishing the Young Advocates, Women’s Rights Committee, HRW University Project and the Student Task Force. As adjunct professor at Mount St Mary’s College she established the Human Rights Film Festival in 2003. Directing STF and developing human rights education as part of STF has been Pam’s focus since 2004.
Amy Calfas () is a freshman at Tufts University. After researching international human rights law with Human Rights Watch and working on various STF campaigns campaigns, she became the first student at Marlborough School to create and teach a course on human rights in current global issues. Subsequently, she designed a plan to make the entire school’s curriculum more human rights oriented and served as a student curricular consultant. Amy currently serves as an intern for Human Rights Watch Student Task Force.
Tassie Hadlock-Piltz () was a public high school teacher for thirty years and is currently teaching at Wildwood School, where she is faculty advisor to HRW STF. She helped develop and teaches a required year-long course for seniors in Human Rights that includes a culminating Action Research Project on human rights abuses in Los Angeles.
Sandra Martin () teaches all levels of Spanish at Pacific Palisades Charter High School. She has completed human rights education projects with her students in Spanish, and she co-sponsors the HRW STF club at Pali. She has also published two children's books.
Nancy Nazarian-Medina () , Co-Founder of HRW STF in 1999, is former Dean of Students and teacher at Immaculate Heart High School. As a teacher, she taught International Relations, AP Government, AP U.S. History and Economics. She has also served as Curriculum Developer and Trainer for the online education program, One Global Tribe.
Angelica Pereyra () is a teacher and advisor to the HRW STF club at Pacific Palisades Charter High. A contributor to STF since its inception, she has integrated human rights into math and art classes at Pali for the past nine years and is also a working artist.
Ginny Smith () is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. During high school at Crossroads School, she was president of its STF chapter and helped coordinate the STF program at other schools. In 2008, she helped facilitate a survey of HRE in high schools in Los Angeles and discussed the findings of this survey at a California Board of Education frameworks revision meeting.
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