UConn said the president Joe Biden will join former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd and other dignitaries for the dedication of The Dodd Center for Human Rights. The center has been known as The Thomas J. Dodd Research Center since it opened in 1995 and UConn said that UConn’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in August to authorize its dedication as The Dodd Center for Human Rights.

“The dedication of the building is a wonderful opportunity for the campus and the wider community to come together and celebrate what we’ve accomplished over the past 25 years,” says Glenn Mitoma, director of UConn’s Dodd Human Rights Impact and an assistant professor in the Neag School of Education. “Going forward, this building will be a place where students, faculty, and the broader community can come together to address the most pressing human rights challenges we face. It will be a place of knowledge, of truth, but also of democracy, of shared values, and of building capacity to solve problems together, in a way that allows us all to enjoy the basic dignity we know we deserve.”

The Education Project is excited to welcome two keynote speakers Basiyr Rodney, Ed.D. and Glenn Mitoma, Ph.D. who will both be further engaging with The Education Project’s main focus; educational disparities, equal access to technology, and social justice in education at our official launch event.

This past month, human rights education groups submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council a joint stakeholder report — based on research done through the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Neag School of Education — in anticipation of the U.S. mid-term review process for the Universal Periodic Review. Glenn Mitoma was among the researchers who prepared the report.

Middle and high school teachers are on campus this week learning how to use genocide and human rights education to address complex historical and current issues. The program – The Upstander Academy: Intellectual Humility in Public Discourse Summer Institute – was developed by the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Upstander Project, with assistance from secondary educators in Connecticut.

The Neag School of Education recently welcomed new faculty members through its continued effort to elevate the academic and research focus and help transform education.