Bethany Barratt Award in social justice issues

Established in 2021 by Mr. Raymond Siegel, the Bethany Barratt Award in Social Justice Issues honors Professor Barratt's dedication to social justice, student success and experiential pedagogy. The annual award is presented to a Roosevelt junior or senior who displays a strong commitment to social justice through community engagement and academic work. Recipients are selected through a competitive application process, and each receives a scholarship to assist with their educational expenses.

 

Bethany Barratt, professor of political science at Roosevelt University, has served as the program director for international studies and the director of the Joseph Loundy Human Rights Project. Her research in comparative politics has focused on four areas — environmental justice, transformational pedagogy, the human rights of older persons, and the politics and policy of wilderness conservation and public land stewardship. Bethany has conducted archival and field research in Yellowstone National Park, Central Asia, the UK, Canada and Australia. Bethany has authored a number of books, including The Politics of Harry Potter (Palgrave McMillan, 2012).

Professor Barratt’s award-winning experiential pedagogy has been hailed as transformational by innumerable students. Under her direction, the Joseph Loundy Human Rights Project has worked with community partners across Chicago and with scholars and activists abroad to examine issues on human rights in urban settings. These collaborative relationships provided the foundation for her research, pedagogy, and student engagement approach to human rights. Her Chicago Summer course allowed students to learn about the legacies of environmental injustice in Chicago, and her travel courses allowed students to engage in truly comparative examinations of wrongful convictions (Chicago-London), environmental justice (Chicago-Vancouver), and populism (Chicago-London). Weaving together classroom knowledge with place-based analysis, in all instances, students in Professor Barratt’s courses learned with and from communities directly impacted by and engaged in advocacy around the human rights issues they study. These learning experiences transform student lives, infusing them with curiosity, and a responsibility to people and the planet.