Women’s Center Grand Opening March 8
3/4/2010
Women’s Center Grand Opening March 8
New Mexico Highlands University will hold a grand opening celebration for its new women’s center March 8, on International Women’s Day.
The grand opening will be from 12:30 – 2 p.m. in the Purchasing Building at 903 University Ave. A free home-cooked buffet and a raffle are part of the festivities.
The university’s new women’s center is part of a $284,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women that the university received in late 2009 to create a Campus Violence Prevention Program.
Highlands University is one of only 32 universities nationwide to receive this competitive grant in 2009, and it is the first in New Mexico. Sociology professor Erika Derkas wrote the grant and oversees the university’s new Campus Violence Prevention Program.
Derkas said the goal of the new program is to create a comprehensive, coordinated on-campus program to help prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, and provide support when violence occurs.
“People are doing a good job locally in violence prevention and intervention,” Derkas said. “We don’t want to duplicate services but rather build a bridge to those services so our students can have a smoother path during the traumatic time that follows victimization.
“The goal is to help students know their options and get the services they need. We want to be a centralized point of contact that is very visible to the campus community,” Derkas said.
Derkas said collaborating with local agencies such as the Tri County Family Justice Center and Community Based Services are an important element of the new violence prevention program.
In addition to the women’s center, some other components of the Campus Violence Prevention Program include:
-Year-round education and prevention programs will be launched for students.
-Creating a community response team to establish policies and procedures to reduce and address domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
-Additional training will be provided for key members of the campus community, including residence assistants, campus security, faculty, staff, and student groups.
Work on these program components begins this spring.
The Department of Justice grant funds a director for the Campus Violence Prevention Program. In January, the university hired Kimberly Valdez for the position.
Valdez is a Las Vegas native who earned her master’s degree in sociology from Highlands University. She also worked full-time in the Registrar’s Office for several years.
The grant will also fund some direct services through the women’s center, including a counselor who will be hired this spring. In addition, a volunteer advocacy group is forming to serve students after hours.
Valdez said the women’s center is already sponsoring a variety of activities for the campus and community, including guest lectures, movies, and a women’s support group. Plans are underway for a Take Back the Night Event in April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The women’s center phone number is 505-454-3377 and Valdez’ number is 505-454-3445. Community Based Services staffs a local rape crisis line 24/7 at 505-425-1048.
The emergency phone number for the university’s campus police is 5555 when calling from a campus phone, and 505-425-3278 when calling from a cell phone. There are also a number of blue emergency phones around campus that ring directly through to the campus police.
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