UI College of Dentistry Bernstein Endowed Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry Peter Damiano was named Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Iowa Center for Human rights (UICHR). 

The Advisory Board meets once a semester and is comprised of nearly 30 campus and community members. The Board supports and provides input on the Center's teaching, public programming, and scholarship. The Center, a unit housed within the College of Law, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

"It is an honor to be asked to serve as co-chair for the Center’s advisory board," Damiano says, "The UICHR provides educational programming to students, the broader campus community and the public on some of the most important and challenging issues both within the U.S. and internationally. Creating forums for discussions is a critical part of a University and the UICHR has been a cornerstone for these discussions at the University of Iowa for the past 25 years."

Damiano, a longtime member of the Board, has worked at the UI for over 35 years and directed the UI Public Policy Center for 15 years, emphasizing the importance of experiential community-based research and education related to public policy. He is the author of more than 200 journal articles and research monographs and has been principal investigator on more than 75 funded research studies.

Among many other initiatives, the Center for Human rights support faculty groups to encourage innovative, interdisciplinary research and scholarship on campus. Their efforts reach the UI community, state of Iowa, and beyond.