The action team represents the disciplines of nursing, social work, education, law, law enforcement, sociology, and community violence prevention. Approximately half of the team members are former task force or Center advisory board members and half are faculty members currently teaching courses on violence and abuse issues. Community practitioners and representatives from the following higher education institutions are involved:
During the first quarter of 1997, the Center will convene additional action teams to respond to the licensing recommendations published in Responding to Violence and Abuse: Educating Minnesota Professionals for the Future. These teams will represent specific professions and include members of licensing boards, professional associations, faculty, and community practitioners.
During these meetings, two main themes have emerged as priorities and are directing the current work of Center staff members:
The Center continues to serve as a resource to all Minnesota higher education institutions and licensing agencies working on violence prevention. In collaboration with other agencies, Center staff members identify inclusive, realistic, and effective methods for revising the preparation, licensing, and continuing education of Minnesota professionals. Your input and involvement is welcome as this next phase of work progresses. Please feel free to call Cari at 612-624-3471.
The latest changes improve accessibility and interaction. With the most recent home page design, a search engine, and a table of contents, users should find it easier to locate resources. The guest book, discussion forum, and search engine are expected to make the Clearinghouse more interactive for users. To provide easy access to specific resources, old resource sections have been reorganized and new sections added.
These enhancements come in the midst of an increase in Clearinghouse usage. The Clearinghouse averaged more than 1,500 visits in each of the last several months, with visits from 35 countries. One-third of the visits came from educational institutions.
The Electronic Clearinghouse offers professionals a wide variety of resources addressing violence and abuse issues. Center staff members are planning the next steps of expansion, and user input is welcomed. Please call Kris at 612-624-2716 with any questions, feedback, or violencerelated materials.
In June, Center staff members Kris Kvols and Andrea Bible, along with Nick Rezmerski, a desktop publishing/multimedia specialist, presented "Joining the Revolution: Internet Resources for Social Service Providers." This workshop was part of "Revolution in Social Work: Building for the 21st Century," the sixth annual state conference of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Workshop participants received practical information, handson experience, and individual guidance as they learned how to access resources on the Internet.
The Center for Social Policy and Community Development at Temple University invited the Center to exhibit at "End the Violence: A National Conference on Partnership, Prevention and Policies" which took place September 5, 6, and 7 in Philadelphia, Pa. The Partnership to Address Violence through Education (PAVE) generously sponsored Kris Kvols' attendance and participation at "End the Violence" where she demonstrated the resources available within the Center's Electronic Clearinghouse and the web site of PAVE.
Madeleine Maceno Avignon
Madeleine began her internship with the Center in November. She
will complete a bachelor of science degree in nursing this spring
with a minor in French. Madeline spent the spring quarter of
1995 at Universit Paul Val ry in Montpelier, France. During
the summer of 1995, she worked as a volunteer for the Minnesota
Advocates for Human Rights and helped document violence and abuse
against women in Haiti. As a member of the Haiti Justice Committee,
Madeleine was involved with various justice and peace issues in
Haiti. She is a member of the Frogtown Action Alliance Health
Task Force and a member of Crossroads Communities, a group in
Frogtown working to make the neighborhood free of crime and safe
for children. Madeleine hopes to pursue a career in a public
healthrelated field upon graduation.
Annelies Hagemeister
Annelies (Anna) works as a parttime research fellow with the Center
and the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. She assists
Dr. Jeff Edleson and Dr. Sandy Beeman on a project investigating
the link between child maltreatment and domestic violence. Anna,
now a doctoral student in family social science, completed a certificate
in child abuse prevention studies and received a bachelor of arts
degree in psychology with a minor in anthropology. She is writing
her dissertation about child maltreatment and family functioning.
Previously, Anna worked in college student services, crisis intervention,
and prevention education programs. She hopes to gain a faculty
position in family studies with an emphasis on family violence
prevention and family research.
Patrick Higgins
Patrick started as an intern with the Center in November. He
holds a master of arts degree in educational psychology and a
certificate in alcohol and drug counseling education. His professional
interests focus on counseling troubled and disadvantaged men.
In addition to his internship with the Higher Education Center
Against Violence and Abuse, Patrick cofacilitates a group for
abusive men at African American Family Services; cofacilitates
a group and counsels individuals at the Minnesota Correctional
Facility in Stillwater; and assesses vocational interests and
provides career counseling at Rebuild Resources.
Cari Michaels
Cari is the new associate director of the Center. She received
her masters of public health from the department of health behavior
and health education at the University of North Carolina. Prior
to her graduate work, she worked as a volunteer coordinator and
manager with the Frontier Nursing Service, a decentralized health
care center in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky.
Cari also served as volunteer coordinator and children's services
coordinator at the Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, a shelterbased
child abuse prevention agency. In an effort to support
schoolbased violence prevention projects she conducted research
on the social influence of adolescent girls. As an intern with
the Association of Schools of Public Health and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, she developed a violence prevention curriculum
for a North Carolina middle school. Cari is working with professionals
from around the state to implement the task force recommendations
published in Responding to Violence and Abuse: Educating Minnesota
Professionals for the Future.
Sonja Sponheim
Sonja assists the Center's director in developing domestic violence
content for multimedia training and support of family advocacy
workers. She recently completed her master of education degree
in family education and her certification in alcohol and drug
counseling education. In addition to her work with the Center,
Sonja is also a chemical health consultant at Courage Center,
where she is developing a program of chemical health for Courage
Center's resident and communitybased programs. Last year Sonja
served as an intern therapist for the Domestic Abuse Project (DAP)
and she continues to volunteer as a Crisis Connection phone counselor.
She spent two years in the Peace Corps as a teacher trainer with
the Primary Education Project of Nepal.
Pat Wright, Principal Secretary
Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse
386 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55108 6142
ph #: 612-624-0721 or (1-800-646-2282)
fax #: 612-625-4288
email: Email Us
(All internship application materials are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mincava.umn.edu/jobs/)
THE CENTER FOR VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
The Center for Violence Prevention and Control facilitates interdisciplinary
collaboration in research and graduate education among the colleges
at the University of Minnesota. For further information, contact:
The Center for Violence Prevention and Control, Division of Environmental
and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of
Minnesota, Box 807, UMHC, 420 Delaware St. S. E., Minneapolis,
MN 55455, or call 612-624-1449.
CHILDREN YOUTH AND FAMILY CONSORTIUM'S ELECTRONIC CLEARINGHOUSE MOVES
The Children Youth and Family Consortium's Electronic Clearinghouse
has moved to a new location on the World Wide Web. The new address
is http://www.cyfc.umn.edu The consortium offers a variety of
information on children and families, including a segment addressing
violence issues.
HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER AGAINST VIOLENCE AND ABUSE 1995 TASK FORCE REPORT STILL AVAILABLE
Copies of Responding to Violence and Abuse: Educating Minnesota
Professionals for the Future are still available. For each report
ordered, there is a five dollar ($5) charge to cover the cost
of printing and postage. Those interested in obtaining a copy
of the report may write to: Pat Wright, Minnesota
Center Against Violence and Abuse, 386 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford
Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108 6142; call: 612-624-0721 (18006462282
in Minnesota); fax: 612-625-4288; or email: Email Us
PAVE OFFERS BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE
PAVE, the Partnership to Address Violence through Education, developed
an extensive annotated bibliography on children and violence.
It is available through their web site at http://ici2.umn.edu/ceed/projects/pave/Library/default.html
HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER
AGAINST VIOLENCE AND ABUSE 386 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN 55108-6142
Phone: (612) 624-0721
In Minnesota: 1-800-646-2282
Facsimile: (612) 625-4288
Electronic Mail: Email Us
World Wide Web Site: http://www.mincava.umn.edu
Last modified April 14, 1998 - kzb.
Copyright © 1996, Minnesota Center Against Violence & Abuse
