Honors College

Policy & Social Justice 2018-2019

Family Violence Across the Life Span

This Praxis Lab examined child abuse, intimate partner violence, elder abuse, sexual violence, trafficking, and related systems of prevention and response. Students combined interdisciplinary research with films, site visits, and conversations with professionals from medicine, law enforcement, victim services, and public policy. Visits with organizations such as the YWCA and Utah Domestic Violence Coalition helped students connect theory and legislation to the services available to survivors and families.

Students created the A.L.I.V.E. in the Beehive public-awareness campaign and used campus tabling, resource materials, media outreach, and wearable materials carrying the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition LINKLine to begin conversations about abuse. They presented an interactive legislative workshop at the Conference on Diverse Excellence, organized the Interpersonal Abuse and U campus panel, and produced a film incorporating student views on institutional response. The completed work developed skills in trauma-informed public communication, legislative analysis, event production, interviewing, campaign design, community outreach, and referral to professional resources.