The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) in the College of Arts and Sciences announces that it will support three graduate and professional students during the 2016/2017 Academic Year. Student support is one of the top priorities of the OPSVAW, and the 2016/2017 academic year will see the OPSVAW fund two research assistantships and one graduate fellowship.

One of the research assistantships is named for Mary Byron, a victim of domestic violence who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1993. Because of a gift from the Foundation created in Mary’s name, the OPSVAW has the opportunity to support students while also continuing to honor Mary and share her story.

“We take this opportunity to advance the careers of these young scholars while also teaching them that there are real women behind their research,” said Carol E. Jordan, executive director of the OPSVAW. “I believe we help give profound purpose to their academic careers as they also add to the field with their scholarly contribution and maturing expertise.”

Among the students being supported during the 2016/2017 academic year are doctoral students in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Political Science, and a law student from the College of Law. Specifically:

• LaKeysha Singleton is a third-year student in the College of Law and is serving as a Research Assistant to Carol E. Jordan, executive director of the Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women. She will be conducting statutory and case law research on a number of legal issues related to intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
   
• Steven Kaiser, a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Political Science has been awarded an OPSVAW Fellowship. His research will focus on developing a dynamic model to predict attitudes toward victims of rape. Measures of participants’ endorsement of intimate partner violence, myths about sexual assault, gender stereotypes, attitudes toward Executive Director Carol E. Jordan 103 Breckinridge Hall Lexington, Kentucky 40506 859.218.2499 Page 2 of 2 violence in the abstract, and other important demographics will be included in his analyses. Mr. Kaiser’s faculty advisor in the Department of Political Science is Dr. Stephen Voss.
   
•  Alyssa Jones is a first-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Kentucky, working with Dr. Christal Badour in her Stress, Trauma, and Recovery Research Center (STARRC) laboratory. Ms. Jones will be provided a Mary Byron Research Assistantship to support her work which is aimed at understanding emotional experience and emotion regulation among female victims of interpersonal violence. 

Proposals for fellowships and research assistantships may be submitted at the call of the OPSVAW each May.

For additional information regarding graduate student support, contact Carol E. Jordan at carolj@uky.edu or refer to the website of the OPSVAW at https://opsvaw.as.uky.edu/