Summer Human Rights Fellowships, 2011

BHRC Summer Human Rights Fellowship Overview

BHRC Human Rights Fellows: The BHRC Summer Human Rights Fellowships are granted annually to a select number of highly motivated UB Law students committed to combining practical field work experience and scholarly inquiry in the human rights field. Fellows are placed with a domestic or international human rights organization of their choosing to engage in human rights field work over the course of a summer. During the Fall semester following their placement, human rights fellows complete a scholarly research paper related to the human rights theme or issue around which their fellowship was organized.

• Selection: BHRC Human Rights Fellows are selected in a competitive, merits-based process by a Fellowship Selection Committee composed of BHRC staff, UB faculty, and other leaders in the human rights field.
• Credit Hours: Fellows receive 3 fall credit hours upon completion of the fellowship requirements.
• Fellowship Requirements:
  1. Registration for Credit. All fellows must register for the course L801 – Int'l Human Rights Research, Reg #236957 in the Fall semester following their summer field work placement.
  2. Minimum Hours of Field Work. Fellows must complete a minimum of 400 hours of human rights field work under the supervision of an approved organization or supervisor. 400 hours are the equivalent of 10 full-time weeks.
  3. Research Paper. Upon completion of the fieldwork dimension of the fellowship, fellows shall write a major paper concerning their field experience. This paper, which must be well researched and well argued, shall be 20-30 single-space pages. It will be due on the final day of exams of the Fall semester following the summer fellowship placement. An outline of the paper will be required in the first week of class in the Fall semester following the fellowship. A draft will be due by November 1. Both the outline and draft should be submitted electronically and in hard copy to Professor Melish.
  4. Supervisor Assessment. Fellows must ask their supervisor to write a thorough evaluation of their work at the end of their stay with the host organization. This evaluation should be emailed directly to Prof. Tara Melish, Director of the Buffalo Human Rights Center.
  5. Grading. Each fellow's three credit grade will be based on (1) a final written research paper and (2) a written evaluation of the fellow's field supervisor or host organization.
  6. Presentation of Work to UB Community. Fellows will be required to present their field work experience to the UB community in at least one panel forum with a view to enhancing community awareness of human rights issues, challenges, and work opportunities. They will be encouraged to consider adapting their research papers into student notes for the Buffalo Human Rights Law Review (BHRLR).
• Finding Placements: Applicants are responsible for identifying and directly contacting the human rights organizations with which they would like to work and in requesting placements consistent with the fellowship guidelines and with their interests and aptitudes. Within this process, the Buffalo Human Rights Center will provide assistance, as needed, in identifying appropriate organizations to those who have been accepted to the human rights fellowship program. The Fellow is nonetheless responsible for taking the lead in this critical process and for asking for appropriate assistance on a timely and proactive basis. The process of identifying an appropriate organization should begin as soon as possible and, under no circumstances, should be left to the end of the Spring semester.
• Placement Logistics: Fellows are responsible for making their own travel and living accommodation arrangements.
• Funding: $4,000 for international posts; $3,000 for domestic posts (to cover travel and living expenses)

Alternative Sources of Funding for Summer Human Rights Work

The BHRC summer human rights fellowship program is a highly selective, for-credit program in which not all 1L and 2L students interested in summer human rights work will be able to participate. For those who do not wish to receive credit for summer human rights work or who have not been selected as a 2011 Summer Human Rights Fellow, there are at least two other critical sources of summer public interest funding available at the law school:

• Buffalo Public Interest Law Program (BPILP). BPILP is an organization designed to raise funds so that students may participate in non-paying or low-paying summer public interest experiences. BPILP receives applications (which are due around the end of March) at which time students must already have an internship/job secured. In weighing the BPILP applications, the BPILP organization places a heavy emphasis on the applicant's involvement in BPILP. Accordingly, if you are interested in applying for a BPILP scholarship, please get involved as soon as possible and as much as possible with any and all BPILP activities. BPILP generally awards $3,000 scholarships to accepted applicants.
• Virginia Leary Human Rights Fellowship. A new $4,000 fellowship was created in 2010 to honor the memory of Virginia Leary, former UB Law Professor and renowned scholar in the field of international human rights law. The Leary Fellow will be selected by the BHRC, with priority given to human rights internship projects that address the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly with respect to labor rights, the right to health, and children's rights-areas in which Virginia Leary devoted her exceptional career.

Students may not receive BHRC Fellowships two years in a row, but may receive BHRC Fellowship funding one year and BPILP or Leary funding in another. All BHRC Fellow applicants are therefore strongly encouraged to participate in BPILP fundraising activities throughout their law school career, as well as to apply for the Virginia Leary Human Rights Fellowship.

BHRC Fellowship Application Procedures

• Submission Deadline: Applications are due no later than 5pm on October 22, 2010. Please email your application to buffalohrc@gmail.com.
• Applications must include a:
  1. Curriculum vitae (resume)
  2. Statement of Interest and Internship Proposal: Description of Proposed Field of Work, Human Rights Interests, and Background
• In the style of a professional cover letter, addressed to the BHRC Summer Human Rights Fellowship Selection Committee
• Please describe the thematic issue(s) or area(s) of human rights law that you would most like to engage and why; what you hope to get out of the fellowship; the general type of field work you are most interested in engaging; and the specific country or general region (if you have a preference) in which you would most like to work. Please also address any background or experience you might have in the human rights field, if any, including relevant coursework.
• Note: You do not need to select a specific organization with which to work as part of the application process (such selection can come later). The Selection Committee will be looking for evidence that the fellowship will concretely enhance your legal education, that you have put real thought into the type of field work you would like to pursue and why, that you are committed to providing significant value-added to your host organization and that you will represent the work ethic and values of the BHRC and UB community in your human rights fieldwork, and that you can complete all of the requirements of the fellowship.
• Please take maximum (and early) advantage of the BHRC Co-Student Directors (Sara Korol, Tiffany Lebron, Sean Mulligan) and the resources that the Buffalo Human Rights Center provides (panels, trainings, etc.) in preparing your application and in thinking through the human rights issues that you would most like to engage through the fellowship experience. You may additionally wish to talk to past BHRC Summer Human Rights Fellows (see BHRC website) as well as to faculty members who work in the area of human rights (e.g., Dean Makau Mutua, Prof. Tara Melish, Prof. Claude Welch, Prof. Isabel Marcus, etc.) for their advice and guidance. You should begin your inquiry, however, by scheduling an appointment with the BHRC Co-Student Directors, each of whom were past BHRC Summer Human Rights Fellows and each of whom can provide excellent advice and guidance.

Contact Information

Buffalo Human Rights Center
710 O'Brian Hall, North Campus,
University at Buffalo Law School
buffalohrc@gmail.com

Director
Profesor Tara Melish
525 O'Brian Hall
tmelish@buffalo.edu

Co-Student Directors
Sara Korol, pol_sk1@hotmail.com
Tiffany Lebron, lebronti@gmail.com
Sean Mulligan, smulligan13@gmail.com