The Wyoming Humanities Council will be hosting the Summer Institute on Human Rights from this Sunday, June 14 to Thursday, June 18 in the UW College of Law.
This institute, a yearly staple of the Humanities Council calendar, will feature numerous speakers and discussions related to human rights both in general and specific to Wyoming.
Sheila Bricher-Wade, program officer of the Wyoming Humanities Council, is one of the organizers for this event. While the institute is directed more toward teachers throughout the state, she hopes to have a large turnout from the community.
“We have people who are registered to participate and they will attend breakfast together in the morning, then each participant selects from two choices in a morning and an afternoon mini-course,” Bricher-Wade said. “Following the morning mini-course, they have a seminar where the whole group discusses various readings related to the topics, and then they bring in their discussions from the mini-courses. Then, in the afternoon, they have an additional mini-course and then we have a public presentation. Those are open to anyone in the community.”
This summer institute provides an opportunity for those curious and interested in the topics, but not enough to do a hefty amount of research to learn about them in an easy, conversational way, Bricher-Wade said.
“I think that the most exciting part of these institutes is not what we anticipate people getting out of them, but what they actually get out of them,” she said. “It’s really exciting to have interested people in a room together talking about this stuff. A couple of years ago we had discussions about Thucydides and we happened to have three veterans there. The discussion about war and the impact of war on people was just phenomenal. It really inspired the teachers.”
The attendees for this event in years past have been numerous and varied, Bricher-Wade said.
“Over the years, we’ve had pastors come to some of our sessions,” she said. “We’ve had people who just have some time to spend and are interested in the topic. And the fact that they can sit with teachers and talk together as colleagues is very inspirational for everyone involved.”
This year’s focus on human rights is a departure from summer institutes in years past that focused on classical studies, Bricher-Wade said.
“I think with the classics, we had done an awful lot of topics,” she said. “We were starting to sort of repeat some topics.”
Shannon Smith, executive director of the Wyoming Humanities Council, also spoke to the shift in focus.
“It was important for us because the council itself is very interested in exploring equality issues in the state of Wyoming,” Smith said. “We really feel that we’re the organization around the state that can host discussions about diversity and equality and what issues might be specific to Wyoming.”
The institute drew in about 40 people from the community last year, and the Wyoming Humanities Council hopes for even more this time around, Smith said.
“We want to elevate the idea that this is a state that is culturally diverse, culturally aware and interested in human rights, and the way to do this is to start with those students,” she said.
David Messenger, director of global and area studies at UW, is one of the guest speakers for the event and was also involved in putting together the institute’s featured content.. Included in this year’s institute will be a group of UW students sharing their research regarding human rights issues this Monday, June 15 at 4:00 p.m.
“I think it’ll be great to showcase the diversity of work that students and faculty are doing at UW on this issue,” Smith said.
