Â鶹´«Ã½

July 5, 2016
On Campus

Joining The Conversation

Expert in Sexual Assault Prevention Leads Three-Part Series

Representative of its ongoing commitment to preventing sexual assault and ensuring the health and wellness of all of its students, Â鶹´«Ã½ hosted a three-part lecture series for community professionals on June 29 and June 30.

In partnership with Urbana University, Central State University and , a Springfield organization dedicated to ending violence and sexual assault, Â鶹´«Ã½ welcomed Alan Berkowitz, a psychologist with more than 25 years of experience in higher education as a trainer, faculty member and counseling center director. He led three well-attended sessions on different risk prevention topics.

All of the sessions drew a diverse crowd of professionals from the community, including individuals with backgrounds in higher education, health care, government, athletics and law enforcement. At each session, participants were eager to immerse themselves in research Berkowitz presented about bystander behavior and ways to overcome a lack of intervention and prevention.

The sessions explored the building blocks needed to understand the issues, as well as the behavior of perpetrators and bystanders. With plenty of engagement from audience members, Berkowitz reviewed explanations for bystander behavior, backed by theoretical research and real world anecdotes. Participants were taught various intervention skills and engaged in role-playing to practice methods that are safe and effective.

For the past three years, Â鶹´«Ã½ has implemented a mandatory education and prevention program for all incoming students , which takes place before the beginning of the fall semester as part of Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s New Student Days. Additional training is offered at the beginning of the spring semester for new and transfer students.

NWC is a healthy relationship and bystander intervention program for incoming students at Â鶹´«Ã½. The program was awarded the 2 Days in May Promising Practice Award from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Office in May.

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About Â鶹´«Ã½

Â鶹´«Ã½'s curriculum has centered on the liberal arts as an education that develops the individual's capacity to think, read, and communicate with precision, understanding, and imagination. We are dedicated to active, engaged learning in the core disciplines of the arts and sciences and in pre-professional education grounded in the liberal arts. Known for the quality of our faculty and their teaching, Â鶹´«Ã½ has more Ohio Professors of the Year than any four-year institution in the state. The university has also been recognized nationally for excellence in community service, sustainability, and intercollegiate athletics. Located among the beautiful rolling hills and hollows of Springfield, Ohio, Â鶹´«Ã½ offers more than 100 majors, minors and special programs, enviable student-faculty research opportunities, a unique student success center, service and study options close to home and abroad, a stellar athletics tradition, and successful career preparation.

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