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Human trafficking research institute to open spring 2015

Andrea Harris

The Board of Trustees, pictured above at their Nov. 17 meeting, unanimously voted to approve the creation of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, which will serve as an on-campus home for research on human trafficking.

Torrie Jadlocki, Staff Reporter

The Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, which will serve as an on-campus home for research on human trafficking, was voted on and unanimously approved on Nov. 17 by the University of Toledo Board of Trustees.

Toledo has been ranked the fourth city in the nation for human trafficking, according to the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The institute, created to help combat this issue, will be led by UT social work professor Celia Williamson and will be housed in converted classrooms in the Health and Human Services building on Main Campus.

According to Williamson, the institute will open before the end of spring 2015.

She said renovations and conversion of classroom spaces will cost about $100,000, which has been raised by local community members and the UT Foundation.

Along with the UT Board of Trustees, the institute’s creation was also supported by state Rep. Teresa Fedor, state Sen. Edna Brown and Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates.

Williamson said that in addition to university staff, the institute will consist of associate director Ashley Wickerham, a former UT social work alum with experience working at the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition, and other community leaders from the FBI and Children’s Services.

Wickerham will serve as a part-time staff member and will help with conference planning, interns and managing graduate assistants.

In order to further integrate the institute into the university as a whole, Williamson said other institute representatives will be selected from UT’s medical and law schools, and medical students will be given training on human trafficking.

Williamson has been a noted researcher in this field since 2003 and started the first direct service program in the state.

She also founded UT’s annual Human Trafficking, Prostitution, and Sex Work Conference, which celebrated its eleventh year running this September and is now one of the oldest academic conferences in the nation.

According to Williamson, the institute will help legitimize UT’s research in this field as well as help secure research grants.

Williamson said that through this institute, she hopes to address and emphasize research, service and teaching.

“Under research, we have some critical questions we have to answer. Very fundamental critical questions,” Williamson said. “For instance, the United States does not have an interviewing protocol for teenagers. They do for children, but not teenagers…so there are some very fundamental basic questions research can answer.”

In regard to teaching, Williamson said she would like the institute to offer multiple approaches to helping others learn about this issue.

“We want to be able to offer online webinars, face-to-face-workshops and maybe even a certificate program so any student or professional out in the field can learn about human trafficking and other social justice related activities,” Williamson said.

She hopes the service and outreach aspect of the institute will help local victims in undergoing their own healing process.

“In the outreach area, we would like to help coordinate agencies in our city, statewide and across the nation so we can coordinate existing services for victims, the best services to heal, and move from victim to survivor to thriver,” Williamson said. Board of Trustees President Joseph Zerbey said this institute will help make UT a more legitimate force in this field.

“It’s an amazing example of how the university is willing to support worthwhile endeavors to research this horrible thing that plagues the greater Toledo area,” Zerbey said, “and the university has a responsibility to help in any way.”

Alcy Barakat, a graduate assistant in the department of public health and preventative medicine, is involved in an annual event called Take Back the Night which addresses and protests all forms of violence against women.

With experience of her own in the field, Barakat said she feels Williamson is a good fit to lead the institute, and she is excited at the prospect of working with her.

“I am familiar with her work and involvement in the efforts to bring sex trafficking to the forefront of local and regional news, given how close the issue is to our town,” Barakat said.

Barakat said she is enthusiastic about the creation of this research institute and feels that the support shown so far for the institute proves that people do care.

“I’m happy to hear that the inter-departmental effort has the interest and support of Representative Teresa Fedor, who is a great advocate on the matter as well,” Barakat said. “I’m always excited to hear my university is doing something new, innovative and one of a kind, especially when it has the opportunity to be interdisciplinary and have a wide spread positive reach over our campus, community and region.”

Women’s and Gender Studies professor Sharon Barnes feels the institute is a great investment in UT’s academic and community commitment, especially with Williamson holding the reins.

“Not only will the institute help us become a larger partner in the worldwide community devoted to ending human trafficking, but the social justice element of the institute can train students who want to work on other complex local, regional, national and international human rights and anti-oppression initiatives,” Barnes said. “Dr. Williamson is a fantastic ambassador of our faculty and a model of engaged scholarship. I’m delighted that she’s going to be leading the Institute.”

According to Williamson, the institute will help legitimize UT’s research in this field, as well as help students become better citizens that are more aware of this issue and what can be done to help minimize it.

“I think we’ve shown that we have a problem in terms of domestic minor sex trafficking,” Williamson said. “Because the university’s mission is to improve the human condition, that for us means to work on the behalf of the most vulnerable citizens or people that are on our soil.”

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