Justine Kolata

An ambitious human rights activist, Justine Kolata founded The Committee on Human Rights Studies at Yale as a vehicle to establish human rights degree programs at Yale University. Currently, colleges in the United States do not offer a major in human rights studies. Led by Justine Kolata, The Committee on Human Rights Studies at Yale serves as a pioneering effort to formalize the study of human rights in American academia. Members of the committee include prominent faculty from a variety of disciples, including history, political science, international affairs, and philosophy. The committee meets monthly and currently focuses on persuading the administration at Yale University to increase human rights programs. Justine Kolata also concentrates on generating student support by hosting events. Recently, she presented a model proposal for a human rights major to the committee and to the university’s administration. An undergraduate student at Yale, Justine Kolata expects to graduate with degrees in philosophy and political science in 2012. Her education includes studying in Paris and Florence, Italy. She is fluent in French. Actively involved in an array of human rights causes, she currently contributes to organizations including the Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnership, The Movement for Beauty and Justice, and Academics Stand Against Poverty. Justine Kolata brought together academics and leading human rights activists at the April 2011 Human Rights Studies in Academia Conference and is also engaged with establishing a human rights think tank. Her past experience includes serving as a Co-Leader for Yale’s Reach Out program in Bolivia from October 2010 to March 2011 and as Team Head of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition from September 2009 to May 2010. Beginning July 2011, Justine Kolata will work as an intern with Human Rights Watch in New York City.