Humanity in Action (HIA) is an international
organization dedicated to the education,
inspiration and development of students and
young professionals committed to protecting minorities and promoting
human rights. Over 1,000 HIA fellows, emerging leaders in their 20s and
30s, are contributing in innovative ways to advance essential democratic
freedoms around the world. www.humanityinaction.org
UPCOMING HIA EVENTS
“The Outlook for Europe and the Global Economy: Opportunities and
Challenges” A conversation among German Ambassador to the United
States Klaus Sharioth, Former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin and
Erik Schatzker, Bloomberg Television.
June 1, 2011, 6:30-8:00 p.m., New York City
HONORING
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LEWIS
AND HENRY Z. HORBACZEWSKI, ESQ.
Monday, April 11, 2011
6:30–8:00 p.m.
Second HIA International Conference
July 1 to July 3, 2011, Berlin
HIA Annual Fellowship for 110 outstanding university students and young
professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany,
the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States.
June 2 to July 3, 2011, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris and Warsaw
For more information about these events, please email
[email protected]
ORDER OF SPEAKERS
Rev. Dr. Katharine Henderson
Henry Z. Horbaczewski, Esq.
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat
U.S. Representative John Lewis
Dr. Judith S. Goldstein
BENEFIT COMMITTEE
Beth and Eric Berman
Susan Berresford
Robert Curvin
Claude Grunitzky
David Hales
Maren Imhoff
Anthony Knerr
Karen Lavine and Donald Kilpatrick
Jonathan Marder
HONOREES
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LEWIS
is an epochal leader of the Civil Rights Movement and
distinguished legislator, representing the Fifth U.S. Congressional
District of Georgia since 1987. He is the author of the widely
acclaimed “Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.”
HENRY Z. HORBACZEWSKI, ESQ.
is an outspoken supporter of the rule of law. He is a senior
vice president and general counsel of Reed Elsevier Inc., an
international publisher and information services provider for the
legal professions, science, business, technology and medicine.
REFLECTIONS ON HIA
JANE EDWARDS
Dean of International and Professional Experience and Associate Dean of
Yale College
HIA is a truly unique organization. I have learned that this is an opportunity
I should suggest only to students who are ready to commit themselves with
their heart as well as their intellect to becoming part of a network that shares
a commitment to social justice and human rights. Last year one of my most
talented juniors participated in the U.S. program, and now, on a postgraduate
Fulbright award, she reflects on how deeply it impacted her life and how
significant the friendships she made through HIA are for her as she seeks her
own way to make this world a better place. I know of no organization that
does this important work with young people as effectively as HIA.
NOAM SCHIMMEL
Yale College, 2002
Current work: Ph.D program at the London School of Economics in Media
and Communication, with a focus on political communication and human
rights
REMARKS
THE REV. DR. KATHARINE RHODES HENDERSON
is President of Auburn Theological Seminary. Author of
God’s Troublemakers: How Women of Faith are Changing the
World, she is an international leader in theological education,
progressive moral leadership in the public square and a
bridgebuilder in Christian, Jewish and Muslim relations.
AMBASSADOR STUART EIZENSTAT
heads the international practice for Covington & Burling.
Ambassador Eizenstat was White House domestic policy
advisor to President Carter, U.S. Ambassador to the European
Union, Under Secretary of Commerce for International
Trade, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and
Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the
Clinton Administration.
DR. JUDITH S. GOLDSTEIN
is the founder and Executive Director of Humanity in Action. She
received her Ph.D in history from Columbia University. Goldstein
has written several books and articles about European and
American history, art and landscape architecture.
HIA integrated the intellectual with the experiential, the analytical with the
creative, and did so in a context that was challenging, critical, intensely
open-minded and provoked constant reflection on a range of human
rights issues. It was exhausting in the most invigorating way: every day
involved speakers and seminars, site visits and conversations that – layer
upon layer – gave me insight into human rights on both a micro and a
macro level. We were constantly drawing connections between history and
contemporary realities, exploring patterns of politics and culture and the
way they influence the realization of human rights.
The interpersonal aspect of HIA was one of the most rewarding both
during the program itself and years later as new friendships become old
ones and the energy that HIA unleashed during a very rich and dense five
week program sustained itself far beyond one summer.
Importantly, HIA is more than just an intellectual experience. It is an emotional
one that pushes you to empathize and communicate across boundaries of
difference in identity and life experience that are often profound. There’s an
exceptional degree of passion for and commitment to human rights from a
range of perspectives that ensures an ongoing shifting and unpredictable
conversation that is endlessly stimulating, electric, and often extremely
humbling as it energizes and inspires. You grow as a result in an exponential
way rather than through the more deliberate, slow, and careful growth of
traditional academic courses and their often linear trajectories.