“Global Humanitarian Crises: Dilemmas, Leadership, and Action” taught by Professor Kirsten Gelsdorf is one of the best classes I have taken at UVA by far. If you are looking for a class that will change your world perspective, teach you skills about how to be both thoughtful and proactive, and leave you after every lecture with a renewed sense of hope for the world…this class is for you.
First of all, Professor Gelsdorf is the role model you never knew you needed. She has 20 years of UN experience and service behind her, from multiple roles on the front line of response to a policy coordinator in a New York. She carries the class in an awe-inspiring, yet instructional way that makes the hour and fifteen minutes feel like a blink of an eye.
We have covered the history of humanitarian aid, focusing on monumental crises such as Ethiopia in 1984 and the impact and change each crises bestows on the humanitarian world. After spending a couple weeks learning about major UN agencies and NGOs, our class feels comfortable discussing them in their weird, and often random, acronyms–which feels pretty official, if you ask me. Over the next couple weeks we are going to go over tools of implementation, how to respond, and how to successfully operate a refugee camp. One of the things I love about this class is that is really is theory and practice. There is never a concept that we learn about that isn’t then explained in practice, which makes this class feel different from any other course. If you haven’t already noted this class on SIS, let me make one more point for my case. Professor Gelsdorf has many friends from her professional background and she invites them for guest lectures–and they usually come bearing real-time pictures.
What truly makes this class amazing is her emphasis on turning our lectures into a reality. While it is a course offered through the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, Professor Gelsdorf and her guests, make the point that anyone can be a humanitarian worker. And even if you don’t want to go into humanitarian aid, the things we learn are applicable to anything. At its core, this class is about learning how to do good in the world–something that should always be sought after.
Professor Gelsdorf. Courtesy of the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.