Tucked away on the second floor of Chapman house is a colorfully cozy office complete with comfy chairs, a couch, aesthetically inspirational artwork, and a calming scent wafting through the air from an essential oil diffuser. It’s a safe space that could easily be mistaken for a therapist’s office. And in a way it is. That office is now home to Morgan Coleman, Dean College’s newest Director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education, a position created to implement programming and education in line with the College’s continuation grant from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). Her job, in the simplest of terms, is to help the students, particularly victims and survivors, at Dean College feel safe and supported. I recently had the opportunity to interview her about her new position, the grant she oversees, her background, her goals for the coming semesters, and much more.
Coleman is part of the select group of faculty and staff that are also alumni of Dean College. She returned to the College two years after graduation to work in Residence Life, later being promoted to Assistant Director of the first-year residential experience where she oversaw residential education and the community advisors (CA) program.
In December 2021, Coleman was appointed to the position of Project Director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education through a continuation grant from the Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women (OVW). The College first received this grant in 2017 in the amount of $299,889. The purpose of this grant, awarded to only 52 colleges in the nation, is to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on college campuses.
The first iteration of this grant in 2017 encouraged the campus community to come together to bring awareness to all those areas the grant works to reduce: domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. It also established the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT) which brings in campus and local community partners to focus on creating comprehensive prevention efforts by reviewing policies and ongoing educational workshops. Another goal of the grant’s first iteration was to bring awareness to create visibility for on-campus victim services and resources. One of those resources being a survivor advocate. Her name is Aastha Mahajan, and she will be continuing her work with the College through the current iteration of the grant. If that first iteration’s goal was to bring awareness and preliminary prevention to campus, the current iteration allows the College to expand on those efforts.
In 2021, Dean was awarded another $299,889 over three years to continue the work already started in 2017 to create comprehensive and sustainable prevention efforts for the College. And that’s where Coleman’s position comes into play. With her recent appointment, she now leads the CCRT, facilitates student involvement, expands visibility of victim services, and explores responses to victims and survivors on campus.
Keep reading in "PART TWO: Campus Program Continuation Grant Works to Keep Dean Safe and Inclusive": https://thedeandaily.wixsite.com/thedeandaily/post/part-two-campus-program-continuation-grant-works-to-keep-dean-safe-and-inclusive
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