UA consortium to research and address gender-based violence

The University of Arizona has a new hub for services and research related to gender-based violence, thanks to $1.5 million in grant funding.

The Consortium on Gender-Based Violence is a research and resource center that will support comprehensive services, multidimensional programming and research-informed practice, according to a UA news release.

The consortium aims to be a national model to understand and take on gender-based violence, improve support for survivors and eliminate attitudes that help perpetuate cycles of violence, according to the release.

A few years ago, Monica Casper, a professor and associate dean in the UA’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and former senior vice president for student affairs Melissa Vito began initial conversations and ultimately co-founded the consortium. In November 2017, the newly-formed consortium marked its soft launch with a conference about gender-based violence that focused on survivorship. The consortium was the first of its kind on any U.S. campus, according to an article on the UA’s website.

A month later, UA graduate Carrie Shumway and her husband, Chris, made a $500,000 gift through their foundation to help the consortium further its work and have since committed an additional $1 million, according to the news release. Carrie Shumway is a former board member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides services for victims of sexual assault, and her husband is the managing partner for private investment firm Shumway Capital.

“Our foundation believes in the importance of eradicating gender-based violence and is pleased to support this transformative initiative at the University of Arizona,” Carrie Shumway said in the release. “We are looking forward to the university creating a model that can be replicated on college campuses nationwide.”

Gender-based violence is defined as harm inflicted on a person based on their gender. While persons of any gender can be victims of violence, women and girls worldwide are far more likely to be harmed by men, the news release said.

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Elise Lopez, who previously served as the assistant director of the Relationship Violence Program in the UA’s College of Public Health, has been named the new director of the consortium. Lopez earned her doctorate in public health from the UA and is an internationally recognized violence scholar, with her work receiving national awards. Her recent work in the community has included overseeing a national initiative to train bartenders and servers to recognize and safely respond to sexual aggression, according to the release.

In light of public discourse and policy attention about gender-based violence in recent years, Lopez began focusing her efforts on campus sexual assault. She sees the consortium as a mechanism to keep that momentum going, the release said.

“We really have an unprecedented opportunity to spark innovation and establish a comprehensive research-to-practice model at the UA for preventing and responding to violence,” she said in the release.

With Lopez at the helm, the consortium will introduce a grant program to fund innovations in addressing gender-based violence, with money available for UA faculty, staff, clubs and students. The consortium will also support the UA’s recently created Survivor Advocacy Program and work with key partners in UA Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

“When I meet parents and family members of first-year students on move-in day, I tell them how excited we are to have their student here and I promise that we are going to take care of them,” UA President Robert C. Robbins said in the release.

“The UA becomes our students’ home, and we cannot do our primary job educating them, allowing them to develop their minds and characters, and helping them to explore their interests and new relationships if we do not create a safe environment.”