Core Faculty Current Projects Completed Research Grants Received Outreach Community Partners Public Policy Work Student Affiliates Research Staff Info for Survivors Support Our Work

"Outreach involves generating, transmitting, applying, and preserving knowledge for the direct benefit of external audiences"

Cris Sullivan conducts evaluation trainings for VOCA grantees in Michigan

Outreach

All of the core faculty within the Violence Against Women Research and Outreach Initiative share a strong commitment to engaging in outreach activities. Outreach involves generating, transmitting, applying, and preserving knowledge for the direct benefit of external audiences. It means working directly with community members to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the University and the public. Outreach and engagement involves the co-creation and application of knowledge, a relationship that increases both partners' capacity to address issues. Such new knowledge can sometimes be incorporated into future research and teaching and applied in new settings.

Electronically linking domestic violence shelter programs in Michigan, and with MSU faculty, students, and support services
Professor Cris Sullivan is a Senior Fellow within MSU's Office on Outreach and Engagement. Her first outreach project at MSU involved obtaining a grant from MSU's All-University Outreach in 1995 to electronically link domestic violence shelter programs in Michigan with each other and with MSU faculty, students, and support services (1). This project involved providing each participating agency with the technology and information needed to access the internet (which most domestic abuse agencies could not do at the time). This project also funded equipment and internet connections for the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MCADSV) and the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board (MDVPTB). This initial effort was a tremendous success. Nonprofits increased their ability to communicate with each other and with government funders, and further collaborations with MSU researchers were initiated. The success of this pilot study allowed the MSU VAWROI faculty to garner trust and develop a strong rapport with shelters, crisis centers, state agencies, and advocacy groups across the state.

OTHER OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
Open Doors to Safety: Helping Domestic Violence Programs work more effectively with formerly incarcerated survivors.
Drs. Sheryl Kubiak and Cris Sullivan are collaborating with the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence to build local program capacity to respond to the needs of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated survivors. Partners in this project include three local service providers serving the city of Detroit (LAVIDA, Serenity Services, and YWCA of Metro Detroit-Interim House); The National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women (NCDBW); and The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC). Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Open Doors Initiative: Addressing the barriers to service experienced by lesbian, bisexual, gay, or transgender survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Drs. Ruben Parra-Cardona and Cris Sullivan are working with the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to (1) create safe, accessible support services for LBGTQ survivors of domestic and sexual violence, (2) examine the intersections of heterosexism, racism, classism, ableism, ageism, and violence against women and how these issues relate to barriers experienced by LBGTQ survivors trying to seek support, and (3) build statewide networks between LBGTQ service providers and domestic and sexual violence service providers in order to increase awareness and education around the multiple issues facing LBGTQ survivors and the competency to provide services. Funded by the Arcus Fund.
Surveillance system in Michigan & community response
Drs. Lori Post and Chris Maxwell have developed a surveillance system in Michigan (now in its tenth year) to study the trends and characteristics of sexual violence, as largely this is still an invisible population. They have also partnered with key stakeholders in Marquette and Iron Mountain to develop and evaluate a coordinated community response to domestic violence that would better hold batterers accountable while providing services for battered women. This project included a large number of Native Americans, and services were modified to be culturally relative and sensitive to the different tribal communities.
Examining how recent advances in medical forensics are influencing prosecution of sexual assault/abuse crimes
With funding from a MSU IRGP Multidisciplinary Incubator grant, Drs. Rebecca Campbell, Celia Wills and Deb Bybee are examining how recent advances in medical forensics are influencing prosecution of sexual assault/abuse crimes. Their collaborative partner in this work is Turning Point, Inc., a Macomb County domestic violence-rape crisis programs with a nationally-recognized forensic sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program. This research project is the first in the country to examine if and how the medical forensic services provided by a SANE program contributes to increased prosecution rates for child victims of sexual assault/abuse.
Collaborating with mental health services to create a community-based research infrastructure
Drs. Cris Sullivan, Rebecca Campbell, and Deb Bybee received a a five-year NIMH infrastructure grant ("Interventions and Practice Research Infrastructure Program") in 2007 that involves collaborating with a well-established domestic violence-rape crisis mental health services organization [Turning Point Inc.] to develop a research infrastructure in a community setting that is supportive of collaborative research on mental health services for battered women and rape victims. The five-year project will result in a community-based research infrastructure able to support and sustain a wide variety of research studies pertaining to the mental health consequences of intimate and sexual violence.
Evaluation of advocacy services for battered women significantly impacts survivors, MSU students, national policy, other states, and intervention research
Drs. Cris Sullivan, Rebecca Campbell, Deb Bybee and Lori Post all worked on an NIMH-funded project that included an experimental, longitudinal evaluation of advocacy services for battered women. This study has had significant impacts at the local, state and national levels. It resulted in (1) hundreds of domestic abuse survivors receiving advocacy services, (2) hundreds of MSU students gaining invaluable community outreach experience in the area of violence against women, (3) national policy changes, (4) replications across numerous states, and (5) influencing the direction of future intervention research in the field of violence against women.

(1) She obtained this grant with Drs. Merry Morash (Criminal Justice), Jan Bokemeier (Sociology), and Diane Levande (Social Work), who with Dr. Sullivan founded MSU's Violence Against Women Research and Outreach Initiative (VAWROI). Over time, as Dr. Levande retired and Drs. Bokemeier and Morash moved into more administrative roles, VAWROI became inactive. However, the other interdisciplinary efforts noted in this document developed.