Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights
ANNUAL REPORT
2024-2025
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Objectives
Provide support for teaching and curriculum development related to human rights. Provide support for faculty and student research and creative activity, and community engagement projects related to human rights. Provide transformative experiences for students through engaged learning. Provide a forum to explore the complexities of human rights. Enhance knowledge and understanding of human rights issues.
Shirley and Leonard Goldstein devoted over 40 years to the cause of human rights around the world. Their primary advocacy was on behalf of Soviet Jews in the 1970s and 1980s who were deprived of freedom of movement and the right to practice their minority religion. Shirley helped to relocate hundreds of families to Omaha, Nebraska and elsewhere. In 1996, Shirley was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from UNO for her many contributions related to her advocacy for human rights. With the help of their children, the Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights was established in December 2017, in conjunction with the creation of the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, to extend the Goldstein family's fervor for human rights to future generations.
ABOUT US
The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights is a faculty-governed, non-partisan, and non-sectarian organization that promotes the understanding of human rights issues through teaching, research and creative activity, and community engagement locally and globally.
Laura Alexander, Ph.D. Executive Director Paul Williams, Ph.D. Associate Director Angela Brown, M.A. Project and Design Manager
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leadership
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
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Goldstein Family community chair in human rights
faculty and staff
The faculty member holding the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights brings their expertise to promote human rights research, education, and both national and international engagement. They also serve on our executive committee to expand on the broad range of human rights initiatives at UNO. Currently, the Chair is held by Dr. Lana Obradovic, Associate Professor of Political Science, Academic Director for the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Strategic Leadership Fellows Program, and Principal Director of the Balkan Youth Leadership (BOLD) Civic Engagement Program.
Laura Alexander, Ph.D. Executive Director, College of Arts and Sciences Paul Williams, Ph.D. Associate Director, College of Arts and Sciences Rory Conces, Ph.D. Human Rights Studies Minor Chair, College of Arts and Sciences Cristián Doña-Reveco, Ph.D. Research and Creative Activity Chair, College of Arts and Sciences Claire Du Laney, M.A., MSLS Curriculum Development Chair, Dr. C. C. and Mabel L. Criss Library Lana Obradovic, Ph.D. Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, College of Arts and Sciences Martina Saltamacchia, Ph.D. Community Engagement Chair, College of Arts and Sciences Brady DeSanti, Ph.D., College of Arts and Sciences Austin Doctor, Ph.D. College of Arts and Sciences Troy Romero, Ph.D. College of Public Affairs and Community Service
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Our Affiliate Faculty cohort is comprised of nearly 50 members who provide an interdisciplinary, multi-college approach to the study of human rights at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Faculty come from UNO's College of Arts and Sciences; College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media; College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences; College of Information Science & Technology; College of Public Affairs and Community Service; and UNO Libraries. Our faculty support the Goldstein Center by teaching courses that support the Human Rights Studies Minor and by participating in human rights-related research and creative activity, community engagement activities, and service on one of our three standing committees.
affiliated faculty
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faculty spotlight
In January 2025, GCHR Associate Director Dr. Paul Williams facilitated two workshops in the Equator Province of Democratic Republic of Congo. He was humbled to watch over 80 healers who work daily to minimize human suffering and death from preventable diseases - doctors and nurses, pastors and priests, herbalists and spiritual healers - gather for training sessions to learn how to recognize and respond to emerging epidemic disease in remote towns in the tropical rain forest of central Africa. In two 2-day workshops, Williams and his Congolese colleagues invited healers who work with patients dying of cholera, Ebola, Mpox, yellow fever, and other diseases to study together and exchange ideas about epidemic prevention and mitigation. "Physicians and nurses told me that no one had ever gathered diverse healers to recognize their shared passion to reduce morbidity and mortality," Williams said while reflecting on his experience. "Thank you to the Goldstein family and others for their generosity to support the right to healthcare in an under-resourced society!" By the end of February 2025, participants identified 22 suspect cases:17 with Mpox symptoms, 2 possible Ebola, 1 yellow fever, and 1 rabies case. Additional outcomes include a complete translation of training materials from French to Lingala, a language more accessible to village healers.
Human Rights Forum
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The Human Rights Forum is an educational series held twice each fall and spring semesters in which a panel of expert speakers discuss a contemporary human rights topic.
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Human rights Week
When you explore the humanities, and you're open to hearing others' perspectives, you learn more about these issues that everyone is seeing. The pandemic was huge in showing and amplifying the existing disparities. I want people to see that access to health is a human right and that healthcare should be more accessible. I think that my paper shows that while the world has recognized health as a human right, we are far from getting there. How can we address these shortcomings that we see?
Human rights essay contest
Sponsored by the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, Human Rights Week is an annual series of events highlighting human rights concerns and the work of scholars, students, and community organizations in promoting human rights. Since 2018, we have co-sponsored the Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights and hosted it during Human Rights Week.
Nebraska, with a substantial foreign-born population, has been one of the highest recipients of refugees per capita. We are home to diverse populations from Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. This project aims to promote research that focuses on refugees' backgrounds and experiences; enrich teaching through service-learning courses that relate to refugee issues; and develop community understanding of refugee communities through events and workshops.
Landscapes of belonging: Refugee experiences in Nebraska and beyond
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Programming
The Goldstein Family Community Chair sponsors a human rights essay contest for high school and UNO students. This contest aims to spark understanding and curiosity that students will carry into their future endeavors of lifelong learning. LeeAnna Lui is a master's student in biology and is planning for medical school. Medical ethics and public health courses expanded her understanding of human rights issues beyond the hard sciences. In her 2022 winning essay, An Exploration into the Barriers Blocking an Individual's Right to Health, Lui explored why health should be considered a human right, and limitations that currently exist in society.
Student Spotlight
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Human rights internship scholarship
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Interning increased my knowledge and allowed me to build relationships with the employees there. It allowed me to get my foot in the door. - Kaitlyn Lorenzen
Human rights Essay Contest Winners
The Human Rights Internship Scholarship provides graduate and undergraduate scholarships to students with unpaid internships related to human rights. Students can receive up to $4000 per semester. Congratulations to our recipients to date: Jacqueline Delgadillo, Douglas County Health Department Vivian Hickman, Tri-Faith Initiative Sophie Irakoze, University of Nebraska Medical Center Katrina Kroeze, Children's Hospital & Medical Center Kaitlyn Lorenzen, University of Nebraska at Omaha Alakiir Mapior, QLI Omaha Nyamar Odol, Community Alliance Tamia Peak, Youth Emergency Services Celeste Salazar, Douglas County Health Department
Congratulations to our 2025 contest winners! GRADUATE First place: Rachel Yi Second place: Farhan Tambirul Hoque UNDERGRADUATE First place: Nadeen Osman Second place: Audra Trifillis Third place: Rory Vargas Honorable mention: Zoe Law HIGH SCHOOL First place: Gavin Luthi Second place: McKenna Smith Third place: Gretchen Seagren Honorable mention: Armando Jacinto and Saúl Muñoz-Macias
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International Dialogue, a journal supported by the GCHR, joined Digital Commons in 2022. Since then, it has had over 50,000 downloads from more than 2900 institutions and over 180 countries.
The GCHR has continued to support the Human Rights Studies minor with the help of Dr. Rory Conces, the minor Chair and adviser. Congratulations to the three Human Rights Studies minors that graduated in the 2024-2025 academic year!
Congratulations to the inaugural recipients of the Landscapes of Belonging: Service Learning Project Development Grant Dr. Lei Guo, College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media Dr. Yiwei Zhang, College of Public Affairs and Community Service
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The GCHR sponsored the Document our History Podcast in its first two years. This Nigerian podcast uses survivor narratives to provide literary information, guidance and support to other victims and survivors of sexual abuse.
center highlights
We produced the eight-part series, Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19. Each episode featured a GCHR affiliated faculty member interviewing a leading expert or community figure about human rights challenges as we saw them unfold during the pandemic.
UNO faculty have been instrumental in creating and developing the Religion and Human Rights Program Unit of the American Academy of Religion. This unit hosts papers and workshops on religion and human rights at the organization’s annual meeting. The involvement of our faculty showcases our commitment to enriching knowledge on religion and human rights topics, while building intellectual connections with over 6,000 scholars worldwide. GCHR Executive Director Laura Alexander co-chairs the unit, while previous Executive Director Curtis Hutt serves on the unit’s steering committee.
The Manuscript collection, Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Papers, was donated to UNO Libraries' Archive and Special Collections and arranged in Criss Library's H. Don and Connie J. Osborne Family Gallery.
Your donations support our administrative costs including educational and promotional supplies, growing the Center library, and community engagement. This year, your gift would support the Human Rights Internship Scholarship, allowing students to get the most out of their experiences supporting organizations that work on human rights concerns and to take those experiences into their future careers in our community. $2000 will provide a scholarship for students working up to 300 hours and $4000 will support a scholarship for those working more than 300 hours in an unpaid internship related to human rights.
Consider giving today: nufoundation.org/fund/01137250
Seyyid, an internationally recognized journalist, poet and writer, came with her family to Omaha after receiving an IIE-Artist Protection Fund Fellowship. Because of her work to promote women’s rights, Seyyid was subject to threats of persecution and violence in her home country of Sri Lanka. During her fellowship at UNO, Seyyid wrote and translated multiple works and earned an M.S. in Political Science. She is now the Grants and Development Project Manager at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands and has been accepted into Kennesaw State University's Internal Conflict Management PhD program, where her research will focus on gender, displacement, and peacebuilding.
Thank You
Sharmila Seyyid
Our contributions to knowledge and community education wouldn't be possible without our sponsors, collaborators, and community partners. We would like to thank the University of Nebraska Foundation, the UNO College of Arts and Sciences, and the many non-profit organizations that have worked with us to educate students and community on some of the most important issues facing us today.
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Goldstein Center For Human Rights
6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182
402.554.4067
goldsteincenter@unomaha.edu