Social Issues
Student Saif Bhatti relied on Northwestern connections to develop a smart listening device that might slow illegal poaching. After meeting first with his computer science and mechatronics professors, he’s turned to more than a dozen faculty, students and staff at McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and the University’s Global Learning Office for support to get the project off the ground.
In our increasingly computer-facilitated lives, we are constantly confronted by new threats to our personal privacy. We have learned that our credit cards, electronic home assistants and smartphones are all capable of sharing our personal information with their corporate sponsors.
The Northwestern Prison Education Program is a partnership between Northwestern and the Illinois Department of Corrections that grants college credit through the University’s School of Professional Studies and in collaboration with Oakton Community College. Upon fulfillment of course requirements, NPEP students are eligible to earn an associate degree.
For the last 16 years, since my commutation from a death sentence, I’ve resided at Stateville prison in Joliet, Ill. My path to life without parole started when I was young.
Alice Foeller, owner of the online marketing company SiteInSight and president of the Northland Area Business Association, is co-founder of Elevate Northland, a community development corporation. With help from Columbus-area backers, including Roger Blackwell ’66 PhD, the social enterprise plans to open a facility this summer that will include event space, a shared commercial kitchen, flexible offices, artist studios and a retail area where vendors can sell handmade goods from kiosks.
Tiffany Walden and Morgan Elise Johnson knew if they wanted to see media coverage that did their Chicago-area communities justice, they would have to do it themselves. So they co-founded the Triibe.
Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former prosecutor for victims of domestic violence who teaches courses on criminal law, evidence and feminist jurisprudence, prepares law students in the “me too” era.
Northwestern professors and an alumna offer perspectives on beauty and who gets to decide what is beautiful.
Jasmine Warga ’10 won a John Newbery Honor in January for her recent book "Other Words from Home," a story about a 12-year-old Syrian refugee named Jude who lives in Ohio with her mother while her father and brother remain in Syria. The award-winning young adult author shares how her family’s immigrant background shapes her writing.
In 1976, with the nation’s bicentennial as a backdrop, Edgar Toppin ’55 PhD, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), worked with President Gerald Ford to establish the country’s first Black History Month.