Elisa Massimino is the Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights at Georgetown University Law Center and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Before coming to Georgetown, Massimino was a senior fellow with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a practitioner-in-residence at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Previously, Massimino spent 27 years—the last decade as president and CEO—at Human Rights First, one of the nation’s leading human rights advocacy organizations.
Massimino has a distinguished record of human rights advocacy in Washington. She has testified before Congress dozens of times; writes frequently for mainstream publications and specialized journals; appears regularly in major media outlets; and speaks to audiences around the country. During her leadership at Human Rights First, the influential Washington publication The Hill consistently named her one of the most effective public advocates in the country.
Massimino is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. She holds a law degree from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity University. Prior to law school, Massimino taught philosophy at various colleges and universities in Michigan.
Scholarship
Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals
Elisa Massimino, Heather Marie Stur, Lauren Bean Buitta & Nova Robinson, The Fight for Women’s Rights After World War I, Tex. Nat’l Sec. Rev. Roundtables, May 25, 2021, at 1-34 (reviewing Mona L. Siegel, Peace On Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights After the First World War (2020)).
Elisa Massimino, Goalposts and Guardrails: A Mixed-Metaphor Guide to Ethics in Advocacy Campaigns, inPolitical Communication Ethics: Theory and Practice 137 (Peter Loge ed., Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield 2021).
Kenneth Anderson & Elisa Massimino, The Cost of Confusion: Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment, inBridging the Foreign Policy Divide: Liberals and Conservatives Find Common Ground on 10 Key Global Challenges 34 (Derek Chollet et al. eds., New York: Routledge 2008).
"Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People," coverage in the Washingtonian, May 3, 2022, featuring Professor Rosa Brooks, Professor Paul Butler, Professor Sheryll Cashin, Professor David Cole, Professor Lawrence Gostin, and Visiting Professor Elisa Massimino.
February 25, 2021
"Washington’s Most Influential People," coverage in The Washingtonian, February 25, 2021, featuring Professor Rosa Brooks and Visiting Professor Elisa Massimino.
