Welcome to the Human Rights Studies Program

The University of Dayton established the nation’s first undergraduate human rights studies program in 1998. More than one hundred students have graduated from the program and pursued careers as human rights advocates and academics or humanitarian professionals in legal, governmental and nonprofit sectors.

Housed in the Department of Political Science, the Human Rights Studies Program offers the B.A. in Human Rights Studies, an interdisciplinary pre-professional degree firmly grounded in traditional liberal arts. Students, faculty, and staff participating in the program enter into it guided by their fundamental commitment to respect and promote the dignity of each human person. The Program also offers a Minor in Human Rights Studies that students can integrate with any degree in the College of Arts and Sciences and even across units, making degrees in business, engineering or education all the more distinctive.