The Man Behind 'Beyond the Classroom'

Human rights and security, poverty and hunger, democracy, international finances, President Barack Obama’s future plans and Indonesia are what he is concerned about.

All can be nightmares in politics. For Dr. James V. Riker, the Director of the Beyond the Classroom Living and Learning Program in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, they are the issues his career is built on.

Riker has chaired multiple boards and written innumerable articles about the need for change, the possibility of improvement and the way to make progress happen.

Among all that he has done Riker says it is impossible to choose his favorite, but he prides in “my work on human rights and democracy in Indonesia with 85 non-governmental organizations (NGO) under the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) and working on their strategic vision. While it is behind the scenes,” he said, “they do good work.”

A former Fulbright Scholar to Indonesia and current board member on the international board of the INFID, a leading development and human rights network in Indonesia, Riker has a lengthy career in improving the lives of others.

Beyond the Classroom Director Dr. James Riker (left) joins previous year's seminar participants Michael Beer, Director of Nonviolence International, Dr. Asna Husin, Director of the Peace Education Program in Aceh, Indonesia. For more information about Beyond the Classroom, visit the website. >>

He was the associate director for the Global Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-founding member and chairman of the Global Development Section of The International Studies Association, a system of scholars committed to international studies with organizations in 32 countries.

Riker said he was working on the Democracy Collaborative board at the University of Maryland in 2005 when the new job as director of the Beyond the Classroom program opened up.

“I wanted to actually educate the next generation of children. It’s not enough to do research, but I wanted to connect that research to things being done,” he said.

Students explore issues of civic engagement and social change on a global scale in the program that brings in speakers from all over the world, shows touching documentaries, and guides issue-oriented discussions on Monday evenings, said the program’s Web site.

Riker has been working in Indonesia for 25 years, he said, traveling from the United States and back.

He will be returning to Indonesia this summer to teach a study abroad class about Indonesia’s civil society, democracy and a sustainable development, and to provide experience of the culture in the Indonesian capital and Central Java, says the class’s description.

Riker earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College in environmental policy, a master’s in government and a doctorate in Government: Comparative Politics, International Relations, Southeast Asian Studies, and International Agriculture & Rural Development from Cornell University.