PPOL 3295

I took this class interested in human rights and international crises, but to my disappointment, the class was mostly about field work and how NGOs, governments, and other third parties (very little focus on victims of humanitarian crises themselves) have their own interests that need to be considered and handled via diplomacy and cooperation. Writing assignments were pretty arbitrary and not related to reading or lecture material. Although some of the guest speakers we had were pretty interesting, class was relatively boring and hard to keep up with. If you're looking for an intro-type class into the Batten School or on human rights, you'd probably be better off looking elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this class and Professor Gelsdorf utilizes her incredible network and experience from working at the United Nations and in humanitarian crises to tie the theoretical foundations of the work into current, pressing examples. I came out of this class with a greater understanding of the complexity of humanitarian crises around the world and really appreciated both the guest lecturers and learning from Professor Gelsdorf's expertise. If you have any interest in learning about the UN or the international community's response to humanitarian disasters, I would highly recommend this course.

This is hands down one of the best classes I have taken at UVA, and I highly recommend it to students in any discipline who are interested in learning more about humanitarian aid or any of the issues surrounding it. Kirsten is an incredible professor who goes out of her way to engage her students, and draws on her firsthand experience working at the U.N. to provide relevant examples of course material. The class is entirely reading and lecture-based (you should do the readings because you will get the most out of the class that way); there are no tests but occasional writing assignments, which require you to utilize skills learned in class. The topics covered in this class are particularly relevant right now as the refugee crisis continues, and Kirsten will give you the knowledge and tools to understand these global issues (and the inspiration and beginning skills to pursue a career in solving them, if you so choose). I'm a science major so you definitely do not need prior knowledge, just a willingness to learn about these issues from one of the most dedicated and intelligent professors I have encountered.

Professor Gelsdorf is an amazing professor and this is a must take class at UVA. She brings incredible first hand experience working in humanitarian crises and always makes herself available to students. This was my favorite class at UVA and I definitely recommend this class to anyone, regardless of major. I gained an incredible amount of knowledge about the complex nature of humanitarian crises and the many stakeholders involved. She uses her amazing network of connections to bring in lots of phenomenal speakers and she is very engaging with students. The reading is very manageable and always very interesting. The assignments are fun and allow you to gain practical skills that you don't usually get in an normal academic setting.

Hands down one of my favorite classes I have taken at UVA. Professor Gelsdorf is the best, not only has she worked with the UN for 20 years but she also teaches the class in a different format than builds your knowledge and gives you soft skills, like working under a hard time crunch. Even in a 190 person lecture, participation was encouraged, making class fun and interactive. Before taking this class, I knew nothing about the humanitarian field but Gelsdorf breaks down a complex system, its actors, and specific crises. A unique class taught in a unique way-- take it!

Funny enough, I ended up just tagging along with my friend to the first lecture of this class without even being on the waitlist. Then, while hearing Professor Gelsdorf's course overview, I became so intrigued I signed up right in the middle of class. I ended up getting off the waitlist, and I don't regret it one bit. This was an engaging class on one of my favorite topics - global humanitarianism. It is a unique class since it focuses on the large-scale actors in humanitarianism as well as much of the work that goes on behind the scenes of humanitarianism, including fundraising, media, access challenges and constraints, and more. I remember the Skype sessions that she held in class with world leaders in global humanitarianism were fascinating. The class is not too difficult either - the main assignments for the class included the 3 Applied Assignments, which were timed so you couldn't spend hours and hours on them, and the group debate project, which was relatively fun (as group projects go). I liked engaging with the content in debates. Professor Gelsdorf is extremely warm, welcoming, accessible, driven, and passionate. She can connect you with your passion in the field, as she ended up doing for lots of students in the class. My only slight qualm with the class is that the lectures did seem unstructured at times, since the "flow" of the course would be interrupted by the occasional impromptu Skype call or the like (important people are busy!) Anyways, I would highly recommend this course to all students of all disciplines. You end up learning a lot, having an enjoyable class in your schedule, and seeing the behind the scenes of global humanitarianism.

This was certainly one of the most interesting classes I have taken at UVA (although, I might be a little biased because I am extremely passionate about the topic). If you are at all interested in working in the humanitarian space, this class teaches you PRACTICAL skills that will come in handy in the future. It is not designed like a normal class, so if you are looking for a straight-forward, memorize the notes and textbook and take a midterm and final class, this probably isn't for you. Professor Gelsdorf works hard to make the class discussion-oriented, eventhough it is a 180 person lecture. The class might seem un-impactful if you just go to lectures, but if you really put time into the reading it can be very rewarding. There is a special focus on the UN (because that is where most of her career was spent), but she tries to bring in NGO perspectives as well. There are a few guest lectures (my semester, we had a representatives from the Malala Fund and Global Emergency Relief Recovery & Reconstruction, which was very interesting and provided first-person perspectives on humanitarian work. Professor Gelsdorf is a very approachable and open professor that is always willing to talk and listen. Therefore, if you are interested in the humanitarian field and would like to take a class that focuses on teaching you practical skills, I would highly highly recommend.

This class is amazing - Kirsten puts so much thought into the syllabus and class structure, and it shows. Professor Gelsdorf very intentionally gives timed applied assignments -modeling desk officer assignments in careers in this field- that teach practical skills instead of arbitrary memorization. She purposefully brings in any guest lecturer she can get in order to introduce students to what different careers in humanitarian aid look like and how perspectives vary across the industry. This class does focus more heavily on the humanitarian aid industry itself instead of the crises, however she is up front about this on the first day and tries to weave humanitarian disasters into the more practical assignments and group projects. The structure of this course was extremely refreshing and made it incredibly worthwhile!

As evident from several of the other reviews, Professor Gelsdorf is wonderful! Her understanding of the world is shaped by her wide array of experiences as a humanitarian aid worker in the field but she is transparent about the reality that the humanitarian system isn't perfect. This course is a great class for anyone interested in getting a broad overview of humanitarian principles and the expansive network of international agencies involved in the many different global crises existing today. The guest lecturers were informative and gave me a sense of the diversity of career options within the humanitarian aid system itself. Throughout the course, Professor Gelsdorf emphasized that humanitarians come from a diverse range of backgrounds and this was definitely a relevant point given the multidisciplinary makeup of the class. Coursework aside, Professor Gelsdorf is such a gracious woman and despite her many commitments to UVa, the Charlottesville, and our global community, she makes it a top priority to be accessible to all of her students. If you choose to engage with the material, the people around you, and Professor Gelsdorf, you will benefit immensely from taking this class.

This class was amazing! Professor Gelsdorf is extremely well connected in the humanitarian world -- this meant that not only did we get to learn from her expertise, but we also got to hear from an array of incredible speakers. The class consisted of applied assignments, meaning that we were "tested" on how well we could apply the concepts we learned in class. Each assignment was a take-home practical assignment where you were given a task that you might have to do if you actually worked in the humanitarian field (ex: craft a news report targeted at X crowd, create a crisis briefing for X crisis, create a situation report for X crisis...etc.). I found the assignments to be very straightforward and, actually, really fun to do! While the time constraint was a bit stressful, life involves deadlines and time crunches, so I felt like these assignments were good prep for the real world. I recommend this class to anyone who wants to understand the basics of the humanitarian world while beginning to learn about the current humanitarian landscape.