Study Human Rights from a Uniquely Catholic Perspective
The Master of Arts in Human Rights, developed by the IHE, is designed for students who wish to study human rights from a distinctly Catholic perspective. It draws upon existing courses from several schools at The Catholic University of America. This interdisciplinary degree is awarded by the School of Arts and Sciences. The program’s director is William Saunders, J.D.
“[William Saunders] is genuinely a human rights hero, a person who has literally put his body, put his life on the line upholding human rights in very dangerous places…to stand in solidarity and to support people who were victims of terrible human rights abuses.”
– Robert George, Princeton University’s McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Advisor to our M.A. in Human Rights
Contact Us
Interested in joining our Masters Program? Contact us at ihe@cua.edu to learn more and find out how to apply.
Faculty
Admissions
Applicants must submit:
- Application fee
- A letter indicating the reasons for pursuing the degree
- Official transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work with a minimum GPA of 3.0
- Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score or a Miller Analogies Test (MAT) score
- Three letters of recommendation
- An admissions interview with the program director, William Saunders
International applicants must submit:
- Application fee
- A letter indicating the reasons for pursuing the degree
- An official translation of foreign transcripts from an approved source (e.g., through World Education Services)
- Scores on the IELTS or TOEFL in accordance with university policy
- Three letters of recommendation in English
- An admissions interview with the program director, William Saunders
Application Deadlines:
Fall deadline for international applicants, June 15
Fall deadline for domestic applicants, August 1
Admissions Mailing Address:
The Catholic University of America
Office of Graduate Studies
620 Michigan Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20064
For admissions questions, please contact the Office of Graduate Studies.
Tuition
The Cardinal Newman Society Guide, Leonine Forum, Civitas Dei, and John Jay Institute alumni automatically receive a $5000 scholarship upon admission.
Merit-based Tuition Scholarships and Grants
In addition to Catholic University’s scholarships and financial aid plans, the Institute for Human Ecology offers partial scholarships (tuition only) to select students in the MA in Human Rights Program.
Non-Catholic University Scholarships
- Scholarships for International Development
- Fellowship opportunities
- Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship
- Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship
- Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are eligible for Partial Scholarships as Coverdell Fellows
Tuition for the 2024-2025 Academic Year
The MA in Human Rights offers a discounted professional tuition rate of $1,250 per credit hour. The total cost of the program for 30 credit hours is $37,500.
Full-time, the MA program is completed in two semesters and possibly a summer course (upon discussion with program director).
The information below is provided for convenience only; all updated figures may be found on the website of the Office of Enrollment Services here.
For details about FAFSA loans, please visit their website.
For payment plan information go to afford.com/options or call 888-713-7234.
Final deadline for international applicants: July 1
Final deadline for domestic applicants: July 15
Part-time students are eligible for scholarships. All of our full-time students receive some scholarship assistance.
Curriculum
The innovative, interdisciplinary Master of Arts curriculum will draw upon diverse academic offerings throughout The Catholic University of America. Its courses come not only from departments within Arts and Sciences but from the Schools of Philosophy, Canon Law, Theology and Religious Studies, Business, and Law. Full-time students form a strong cohort under the direction of Prof. William Saunders to support one another in their commitment to study human rights. In addition to the required coursework, students meet regularly with leaders from a wide variety of human rights organizations including those led by members of the program’s Advisory Board. Examples of these meetings can be found here.
Following an introductory orientation week before the semester begins, the program consists of 30 semester hours of post-baccalaureate coursework, including a capstone course designed to bring together the insights from the other courses and which looks at the Church’s work at the United Nations and other international bodies. The capstone course consists of a seminar and requires completion of a research paper. The degree, which is completed in one year (if taken full-time), may occasionally include the option to take a summer course.
Students will have the privilege of taking a class and doing an internship under the supervision of former Ambassador Samuel Brownback. These internships will be in connection with established human rights organizations, giving students a wealth of options to choose from.
Students form a cohort and take courses together. Students must maintain a minimum of a B average in order to graduate. Students will fulfill the normal requirements for a Master of Arts degree in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Of the ten courses the student will take, ordinarily nine will come from the following list, as selected by the Program Director. (Note that offerings each semester may vary due to a variety of factors, such as whether a professor is on sabbatical; thus, the precise menu of core courses selected for each year will vary.)
Course options:
- CL 716 Religious Liberty
- LAW 611 Public International Law
- LAW 478C International Religious Liberty Advocacy
- LAW 419 Human Trafficking Seminar
- LAW 410 International Human Rights
- LAW 685 Catholic Social Teaching and the Law
- LAW 272/604 Constitutional Law II
- PHIL 633 Philosophy of Natural Right and Natural Law
- POL 5XX/405A Constitutional Democracy
- POL643 Foundations of Christian Political Thought (Bible to Middle Ages)
- POL 529 Liberalism and Its Critics
- POL 644 Modern Christian Political Thought
- POL 595C Washington Internship
- POL 559A Capstone course
- SRES 508 Evolution of Business, Human Rights, and ESG
- TRS 632A Christian Social Ethics
- TRS 630A Foundations of the Christian Moral Life
- TRS 661 Christian Anthropology
- TRS 632D Biomedical Ethics
An elective can be chosen by each student in consultation with the Director of the Program in Human Rights; he will advise students on electives that prepare them for their career goals.
Advisors
“This [program] will really bring something new to the table. That is an understanding of human rights rooted in the deep tradition of thought that takes us back to Athens and to Jerusalem, an approach to human rights that really anchors human rights in the truth about the human person and the flourishing of the human person. … We need that kind of deep understanding.”
– Robert George, Princeton University’s McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Members of the Advisory Board are actively involved in the program, meeting frequently with the students and lecturing as part of the Capstone course.
Robert George — Princeton University
Mary Ann Glendon — Harvard Law School
John Dilulio — University of Pennsylvania
John Keown — Georgetown University
Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J. — Gregorian University
Thomas Farr — Religious Freedom Institute
Helen Alvare — George Mason Law School
Msgr. Anthony Frontiero, S.T.D. (former Vatican diplomat)
Juan Carlos Riofrio Martinez-Villalba – Strathmore University Law School
Yuri Mantilla- Liberty University Law School
Collaborators
Our collaborators believe in serving the common good by serving the human person.
World Youth Alliance (WYA) North America offers an annual internship to one student in the M.A. in Human Rights.
The M.A. in Human Rights program guarantees that priority scholarship consideration will be given to admitted students who are fellows or graduates of the Leonine Forum, John Jay Institute, the Faith and Reason Institute’s Free Society Seminar, Cardinal Newman Society, EPPC’s Tertio Millenio Seminar, or In Altum.
Discussions
Careers
Be an advocate for human rights
This degree will prepare you to bring the rich Catholic perspective on human rights to a variety of different spheres, including:
- NGOs
- International, Federal, State Government
- Church/Diocesan Apostolates
- International Aid Organizations
- Advocacy and Social Policy
- Consulting
- Private Sector
Wherever people are, you will be a voice for human rights.
“To meet today’s human rights challenges, we need students who are rooted in the founding documents of the human rights movement, enriched by a deep philosophical and even theological understanding of the dignity of the human person. This is precisely what the M.A. in Human Rights at The Catholic University of America provides.”
– Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Emerita, at Harvard Law School and Advisor to the M.A. in Human Rights at Catholic University
Outcomes
Graduates will:
- Become knowledgeable about the international legal structure of human rights.
- Understand the Catholic anthropology of the human person.
- Understand the natural law of rights and the place of rights in the political order.
- Be able to analyze and discuss whether claimed “rights” are defensible as such.
- Understand the intersection of human rights concepts and Catholic social thought.
- Be prepared to contribute to the building of a culture of human rights that advances the good of the human person in community.
