The University of Texas at Austin   School of Law

The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice

Partners for change at the intersection of academics and advocacy.


Rapoport Summer Fellowships



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Rapoport Center Summer Fellows (L to R): Kristian Aguilar, Stacy Cammarano, Caitlin Boehne, Devin Sefton, Mallory Owen (Not pictured: Elizabeth Coleman, Audrey Lynn, Della Sentilles)

Deadline for Summer 2012 Applications:
Friday, February 24, 2012

Download the 2012 Summer Fellowship Application


Each spring, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice offers summer funds for UT law students working in international human rights—including within the United States—connected to the Center’s mission of promoting the economic and political enfranchisement of marginalized individuals and groups both locally and globally.

Fellowships are open to all first and second year students in a JD program at the University of Texas School of Law. Host organizations must be non-profit organizations or governmental or intergovernmental organizations. Although the work of the organization need not be exclusively devoted to international human rights, students should indicate in their application how the work they will be doing will relate to or promote international or transnational rights. Ideally, students should commit to 400 hours of service to their host organization. Proposals for split summers will be considered, but proposals for the full summer are preferred. Fellowships will not be awarded for any work for which a student is receiving academic credit. Summer fellows are awarded a stipend of approximately $4,000.00 for 400 hours of service (10-week internship). Any supplemental funding from the host organization or other sources must be indicated. If a student is awarded funding after the submission of the application, the student must inform the committee.

The fellowships are funded by the Rapoport Center, and many are supplemented by grants from the Cain Foundation, a longtime supporter of international legal placements at the law school, and the Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Karpen Moffitt Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Law. Increased funding from the Cain Foundation has made it possible to nearly double the amount of money that the law school is able to put toward summer human rights fellowships. Each fellowship that the Center is able to fund is an investment in human rights advocacy and in preparing law students to develop the knowledge, skills and critical thinking that are essential to their future participation in the field.

In the past, UT students have worked at human rights organizations in the United States, Bosnia, Chiapas, and Cambodia, and with various organizations engaged in democratization work in Latin America. Recent additional funding from the Cain Foundation allowed us to increase these opportunities.

Read about our Summer 2011 Fellows!

Read about our past Rapoport Summer Fellows: 2010 / 2009 / 2008 / 2007 / 2006 / 2005