Global Arc

This course will study the system of international protection, who is understood to qualify and why, how the system has changed over time, and what these developments mean for a broader understanding of human rights across borders. We will also take a critical look at asylum, examine ideas of deservingness and innocence and their intersection with categories of race, class, and gender, and question what it means for certain people to be constructed as victims and others to be seen as not eligible for protection. This class will also collaborate with a New York organization to work directly on ongoing asylum claims.

This is an experiential learning course. Students will learn about the criminal legal system broadly and in NJ specifically, while working towards the freedom of an incarcerated person. It includes skill development: advocative writing/narrative building, oral advocacy, investigative research, trauma-informed interviewing, creating supportive evidence, and cross cultural relationships. Skills are contextualized by readings and media about the criminal legal system, the factors that lead to incarceration, and decarceration tools. The course aims to educate at the intersection of subject matter expertise/context, fieldwork, and creativity.

In this applied learning course, a selected group of passionate and highly motivated students will spend an intensive semester reinvestigating likely wrongful conviction cases reviewed and selected by the Making an Exoneree program staff, ultimately creating a public documentary, website, and social media campaign telling the story of the individual whose case they're working on.

In policy seminars students work in groups first formulating the general problem, then engaging in individual research on subtopics, and finally presenting their inferences for discussion and debate and producing a collective policy report.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the contemporary landscape of philanthropy, addressing critical issues, evolving trends, and the ethical and practical considerations that influence philanthropic practices today. Through a combination of peer-reviewed articles in sociology, philosophy, policy, and history; case studies; and articles from non-profit newspapers, students will develop a nuanced understanding of philanthropy's role in addressing societal challenges, with an emphasis on strategic and impactful giving.

This course will examine current policy challenges in the U.S. with a focus on the role of the federal government in addressing them. Taught with consideration of economic principles, the course will discuss articulated rationales for government involvement in issues, the tools typically available to address them, the history of some selected policy challenges, and proposed ways forward. A focus will be on whether existing institutions have kept up with changes in the U.S. economy and society. The course will incorporate the Trump Administration's approach as well, likely in real time.

State courts are dominant in our federal system. Each year state courts process over 50 million civil, criminal and family cases, nearly 20 times the caseload of the federal courts. The case types range from major crimes to minor traffic offenses, "big law" litigation to small claims lawsuits, administrative agency appeals, and family disputes. Led by a long-time state appellate judge and law professor, the course will examine the wide varieties of cases adjudicated in the state trial and appellate courts and their institutional and societal importance within our nation's system of justice.

The US federal government reserves the exclusive power to decide who can enter the nation lawfully. Once newcomers have settled, however, it is largely states, localities and community-based organizations that create the conditions under which immigrants meet their basic needs and pursue their aspirations. Not surprisingly, these conditions vary from one place to another sometimes dramatically. This is an applied policy class. We will engage with state and local elected officials, policy makers and advocates visiting their communities and hosting them on campus.

This course examines the international development project as it encounters increasing global disruption and crises. The course will trace the historical trajectory of development from the post-war period including the key institutions, actors, agendas, and ideologies that frame the development project. We will discuss development paradigms from modernization theory to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), as well as more bottom-up challenges for participation, women in development, and rights-based approaches. Then we will consider how the climate crisis, COVID, and present geopolitics threaten development.

This course aims to equip students with the fundamental skills and experiences they will need as future healthcare leaders to navigate a challenging and rapidly shifting landscape. The class will examine emerging issues in health policy, public health, and health system management as case studies for effective healthcare leadership. Students will engage directly with real healthcare executives, policy makers, and clinical leaders to learn first-hand from the most intractable leadership challenges that these individuals face. Then, through a semester-long project students will propose actionable solutions to incumbent healthcare leaders.