UT’s Office of Title IX is one of only eight groups selected to present during prevention-focused breakout sessions of a national conference on sexual assault at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, April 4–5.
The team will discuss using the social-ecological model for sexual violence prevention to change the statistics around sexual assault at the first National Discussion on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at America’s Colleges, Universities, and Service Academies. The event is hosted by the Secretaries of the Navy, Army, and Air Force.
Presenters from UT include Ashley Blamey, Title IX coordinator for the UT System; Laura Bryant, deputy Title IX coordinator for prevention, training, and education for UT Knoxville; Sarah Thomas, deputy Title IX coordinator for student support for UT Knoxville; and Christina Moradian, deputy Title IX coordinator for the UT System.
The two-day program aims to develop partnerships, share best practices in prevention, and leverage research to create learning environments free of sexual assault and sexual harassment. College and university administrators from across the country will learn about successful prevention programs and innovative research from the nation’s leading experts.
UT’s Title IX program is based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s social-ecological model and engages the community about the university’s values and social norms surrounding sex, consent, alcohol and drug use, bystander intervention, and healthy relationships. UT’s presentation will provide an overview of how UT has developed, implemented, and assessed a community approach to change campus culture.
UT’s Office of Title IX was also selected for two of six poster presentations during the event. The first, “Moving Upstream from Compliance to Prevention,” presented by Blamey, will provide an overview of Title IX in the UT System Office of Title IX. She will talk about UT’s model, implementation, and lessons learned.
The second, “The Vol Module: Prematriculation Education at the University of Tennessee,” presented by Bryant, will describe a sexual violence prevention module for all incoming first-year students that launched in 2017. UT designed the module to be easily adaptable for other schools, especially those with limited budgets within Tennessee and is providing the opportunity to use the module at no charge.
—
CONTACT:
Katherine Saxon Keith (865-974-8365, ksaxon@utk.edu)