UW Law Students Learn from Human Rights Expert and Grenadian Diplomat Dessima Williams

Gredaian Diplomat Dessima Williams presenting in front of a blackboardLast spring, University of Wisconsin Law School students had the opportunity to learn from Grenadian Diplomat Dessima Williams, a climate change and human rights expert, who served as the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Human Rights.

During her UW residency, Williams participated in the Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium on climate law, discussing climate negotiations in relation to small island states.

Williams also met with law students as part of the Directed Research on Climate Change, which is under the supervision of Dr. Sumudu Atapattu, a leading scholar on law and climate change.

Williams shared her experiences with Atapattu’s International Law: Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Environment class for second- and third-year law and graduate students. Pupils in the class were examining the legal issues surrounding what happens when individual states physically disappear or become uninhabitable due to climate change.

“Hosting Diplomat Dessima Williams was a great honor. She brings an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and unique perspective to the challenges posed by climate change. It’s been a rare privilege for our students to meet and learn from such a learned expert on a subject of unparalleled importance.”

—Daniel Tokaji, Dean, UW Law School

During her residency, Williams also taught in several undergraduate classes, spoke to King-Morgridge scholars and international studies majors, and gave a lecture at Madison East High School. Williams’s residency was supported by UW Law School and the Institute for Regional and International Studies National Resource Center within UW–Madison’s International Division.

“Hosting Diplomat Dessima Williams was a great honor,” said UW Law School Dean Daniel Tokaji. “She brings an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and unique perspective to the challenges posed by climate change. It’s been a rare privilege for our students to meet and learn from such a learned expert on a subject of unparalleled importance.”