Looking for ways to keep this year’s Global Challenges conversation going? Use the resources on this page to explore upcoming UW courses, find reading recommendations, and discover opportunities to get involved in projects both on and off campus.

Upcoming Courses

In Honors

Winter 2027

• HONORS 211 C: Humanities in Action (cross listed with CHID 100)
• HONORS 231 B: Courts in the Classroom: Justice(s) and Inequality in Education
• HONORS 231 C: Human Rights and Inclusive Development
• HONORS 394 A: Lovework: an unfinished syllabus
• HONORS 393 A: Rhetoric of Health and Medicine
• HONORS 345 A: Plague, Print, and Pamphlet: Multimodal Communication in the History of Public Health

Spring 2027

• HONORS 212 A: Native NW Online: Connecting Communities and Collections
• HONORS 232 A: Ecology of Urban Seattle: Field and Classroom Experience
• HONORS 232 B:The Record of Us All
• HONORS 232 C: Disability, Power, and the Making of Normal
• HONORS 394 A: Displacement, Empire, and the Work of Spatial Justice (taught by Erin McElroy)
• HONORS 394 B: Seattle’s “Color Line”: Mediterranean Imprints on the Pacific Northwest

Study Abroad

• HONORS 233: Kenya: Rights, Gender and Inclusive Development with Dandelion Africa

Resources

Centers and Projects at UW

University of Washington Center for Human Rights
The University of Washington Center for Human Rights is committed to interdisciplinary excellence in the education of undergraduate and graduate students in the field of human rights; promoting human rights as a core area of faculty and graduate research; and engaging productively with local, regional, national, and international organizations and policymakers to advance respect for human rights.

UW Impact
Stand up for public higher education and make your voice heard with UW Impact! As the nonpartisan legislative advocacy program of the UW Alumni Association, UW Impact empowers students, alumni, and friends of the UW to connect with lawmakers, share their stories, and advocate for policies that support public higher education and communities across Washington.

UW Impact Advocacy Toolkit 
Whether you’re new to advocacy or looking for a refresher, these resources provide the foundation you need to get started. Learn how government works, how higher education advocacy fits into the legislative process, and how UW Impact helps alumni, students, and supporters make a difference.

Civic Health Initiative
The University of Washington Civic Health Initiative is focused on revitalizing the nation’s civic health by fostering trust, collaboration and engagement in local communities, starting with Washington and then expanding nationwide.

The Anti-Eviction Lab
The Anti-Eviction Lab brings together spatial, racial, and technological justice collective projects with student researchers. Housed at University of Washington and led by Erin McElroy, it prioritizes collaborative knowledge making with groups such as the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, including its Evictorbook project.

Recommended Reading

By Global Challenges Speakers

Stephanie Smallwood, “Freedom,” in Keywords for American Cultural Studies, Third Edition, vol. 11, edited by Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler (NYU Press, 2020).

By Others

Brookings Institute Democracy in Question Podcast, “Do immigrants enrich democracy?” June 19, 2025.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “U.S. Democratic Backsliding in Comparative Perspective,” August 25, 2025. 

Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), “Youth Are Likely to Vote in 2026—But Want to See Big Changes in Democracy,” May 21, 2026.

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, “Looking Ahead in Uncertain Times: The Time Has Come to Build What’s Next,” March 17, 2026.

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, “Standing Up for Immigrants, Standing Up for Democracy: What This Moment Is Calling on Us to Do,” March 17, 2016. 

Anthony Faiola and Ellen Francis, “Europe, Keen to Deter Migrants, Is Adopting Strict Policies and Tactics,” The Washington Post, June 2, 2026.

Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2025: The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights”.

Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy”.

Freedom Together Foundation, “Bigger We Organizing: A strategy to revitalize our democracy”.

George W. Bush Institute, “Strengthen America’s Democracy with More Democracy,” Fall 2018.

Pew Research, “Multiple indicators show a decline in the health of America’s democracy in 2025,” April 15, 2026.

Protect Democracy, “How does Gen Z really feel about democracy?”, April 6, 2025. 

Keeanga Yahmatta-Taylor, “Until Black Women are Free, None of Us Will Be Free,” The New Yorker, July 24, 2020.

Other Resources

The Democracy Project
The Democracy Project aims to build strong bipartisan support in defense of democracy at home and abroad.