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SMCM Title IX Office Collaborating with Johns Hopkins University on Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative

Michael Dunn (L), Assistant Vice President of Equity and Inclusion / Title IX Coordinator and Helen Ann Lawless (R), Assistant Director of Title IX Compliance and Training

Michael Dunn and Helen Ann Lawless from SMCM’s Office of Title IX Compliance and Training recently finalized a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The new initiative aims to conduct evaluation research on ‘Hot Spot Mapping’ as an environmental change strategy for sexual violence prevention on college and university campuses. The three-year project is titled: Creating Protective Higher Education Environments for Sexual Violence Prevention: Practice-based Evidence and Evaluation.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will lead the initiative, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several college and university partners. Goals of the project include:

  • Development of campus- and program-specific logic models, outlining the inputs, activities, process measures, and outputs of a Hot Spot Mapping intervention to reduce sexual violence
  • Identification of existing survey instruments and evaluation data sources, and conceptualization of new data sources to meet evaluation goals
  • Identification of students and additional stakeholders for further discussion and activities related to logic model development
  • Identification of a diverse set of appropriate initiatives to respond to Hot Spot Mapping findings in order to reduce sexual violence
  • Review and advise on the resulting practice-based monitoring and evaluation guide for campus-based Hot Spot Mapping, as well as related dissemination of project outputs

Subsequent project phases may include:

  • Testing of new measures and evaluation procedures, and
  • Pilot hot spot mapping evaluation

The SMCM Title IX Office has already begun work on the initiative and will receive $15,000 during the three-year project to compensate for the time involved in attending meetings, reviewing documents and coordinating stakeholders for meeting participation.

SMCM Title IX Office Awarded Five-year Grant from the Maryland Department of Health

Michael Dunn, SMCM Title IX Coordinator

Over the next five years, the College’s Title IX Office will receive a total of $50,000 from the Maryland Department of Health’s Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention Program at the Center for Injury and Sexual Assault Prevention. The focus of the grant is “Preventing Campus Sexual Assault through Social Norms Change” and on implementing strategies to mobilize men and boys as allies to prevent sexual violence. This is the College’s third, and most significant, award from the Maryland Department of Health in the past three years.

The College will use these funds to continue developing a relationship with A Call to Men, a national violence prevention organization first brought to campus in 2017. A Call to Men is known for its important work with professional sports leagues, the U.S. military, and many other institutions.

For the next five years, trainers from A Call to Men will come to campus each semester to engage in ongoing programming and development with the general campus community as well as specific male populations, such as men’s sports teams and residential communities. The College will also use grant funds to support student professional fellows and upperclass students working on St. Mary’s Projects on related topics.

Michael Dunn, SMCM’s Director of Title IX Compliance and Training/Title IX Coordinator is “very excited about the opportunity to develop impactful, sustained prevention work with influential campus communities, and to weave together academic and pre-professional opportunities”.  Dunn appreciates the support of campus partners, including Student Affairs, Athletics, and Academic Affairs, in helping pull the pieces of the grant proposal and planned programming together.

SMCM Title IX Coordinator Michael Dunn Awarded Grant from the Maryland Department of Health

Michael Dunn, SMCM Title IX Coordinator

Michael Dunn, SMCM’s Director of Title IX Compliance and Training/Title IX Coordinator, was recently awarded funding from the Center for Injury and Sexual Assault Prevention at the Maryland Department of Health as part of a competitive application process. The funding comes from the Maryland Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention College Initiative which seeks to enhance campus-based sexual violence prevention activities.

SMCM will use the $8,000 grant to partner with the national violence prevention organization, A Call to Men, to offer a series of workshops on campus during the fall 2017 semester. Trained advisors from A Call to Men will lead multiple workshops on two occasions during the fall semester – aimed in particular at male members of the community – to address the prevalence, impact, prevention, and rejection of sexual violence on campus. All students, faculty, and staff will be invited and encouraged to attend. The Title IX Coordinator and the Implementation Team’s goal is to include preexisting communities of men on campus – athletic, academic, social, etc. – and to create a welcoming environment for any other individuals interested in attending. The focus on educating men is a result of College and national data that indicate that the majority of sexual misconduct incidents are committed by males. In addition, community partners through the St. Mary’s County Sexual Assault Response Team, including advocacy groups, medical responders, and law enforcement personnel, will be invited to attend.

The Title IX Coordinator and the Implementation Team will lead follow-up events on campus and will engage in an ongoing messaging campaign to reinforce and build on the training materials shared at the workshops. This important award from the Maryland Department of Health will help increase sexual violence prevention activities that are grounded in the best available evidence and utilize the principles of effective prevention.