Barbara Frey receives prestigious award for undergraduate teaching

Congratulations to Barbara Frey, Director of the Human Rights Program and Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Global Studies, on receiving the Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. This prestigious award recognizes a select group of UMN faculty members and their contributions to the education of their undergraduate students. 

For the past 30 years, Frey has taught undergraduate courses in the Institute for Global Studies (IGS), nurturing interest in human rights law and passion for human rights advocacy in hundreds of undergraduate students in IGS, other CLA departments, and colleges. One nominator noted that Frey is providing undergraduate students "with not just excellent classes, but remarkable mentoring and life-changing experiences in various fields of human rights that have shaped subsequent careers and built enduring professional networks.” 

Frey is dedicated to preparing students for practical and professional engagement in human rights work, using applied activities in the classroom—vigorous debates, creating mock nonprofit organizations, courtroom simulations, or interviewing present-day UN officials joining her class remotely. Further, she meets each and every student exactly where they are with passion, commitment, and generosity that compels them to learn and to be inspired and to take action. 

Outside of the classroom, Frey works to make available and achievable those opportunities that strengthen students’ passion for, and provide real-world experience in the field of human rights. She connects students with meaningful internships at high-profile human rights organizations and accompanies student delegations to the UN Human Rights Council or the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Throughout her time at the University of Minnesota, Frey has worked to ensure that undergrads are fully integrated as active and valued participants in a broad multidisciplinary human rights community at the University of Minnesota and beyond. 

Congratulations, Barbara, for your outstanding work and inspiring passion towards your undergraduate students and the field of human rights.