Carol E. Jordan, the founding executive director of the University of Kentucky Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women in the College of Arts & Sciences, is one of 12 recipients of Texas A&M University's Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2020. Jordan holds UK faculty appointments in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Psychiatry.

Since  1962, only 303 of Texas A&M’s 527,000 former students have been recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Awarded jointly by Texas A&M and The Association of Former Students, this honor recognizes those Aggies who have achieved excellence in their chosen professions and made meaningful contributions to Texas A&M University and their local communities.

“We are proud of these wonderful former

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to learning and working environments that are diverse, inclusive, and equitable for students, staff, and faculty.

We stand in solidarity with those working to confront systemic racial injustice in our communities and in the United States. We recognize the disproportionate burden of racism and other forms of violence on many within our A&S community during this time. We affirm our support of faculty, students, staff, and alumni in standing against all forms of racism, discrimination, and bias.

During this time of pandemic and continued racism and violence that especially impact marginalized communities of color, we recognize the disproportionate impact on Black and African-American people. In the context of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and here in Kentucky, Breonna Taylor and David McAtee, we affirm that

The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) in the College of Arts and Sciences announced today the selection of four graduate students to receive three named graduate fellowships and one named research assistantship during the 2020/2021 academic year. The students were selected following a competitive proposal process the OPSVAW holds each year.

“Support of graduate students is among our highest priorities,” said Carol E. Jordan, Executive Director of the OPSVAW. “The annual graduate student support program gives us a substantive opportunity to advance scholarship in the field of gendered violence in the short term, and by what these young scholars do in their future careers, to meaningfully contribute to ending gendered violence in the long run,” said Jordan.

“We are particularly enthusiastic about the four students we selected this year for

The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) in the College of Arts and Sciences announced today the selection of two graduate students to receive named graduate fellowships during the 2019/2020 academic year. The students were selected following a competitive proposal process the OPSVAW holds each year.

“Support of graduate students is among our top priorities,” said Carol Jordan, Executive Director of the OPSVAW. “The fellowship program gives us a substantive opportunity to advance developing scholarship in the short term, and by what these young scholars do in their future careers, to meaningfully contribute to ending gendered violence,” said Jordan.

Carol E. Jordan, Executive Director, OPSVAW (center) with Victoria Beall (left) and Helen Kraus (right), Department of Political Science

The

In 2013, Brandie Cobb was selected to receive the very first Women’s Empowerment Scholarship created by the UK Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women.  Brandie held the Verizon Wireless Women’s Empowerment Scholarship for three years before graduating from UK in 2016.  Brandie’s time at UK was filled with recognition by the National Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Dean’s list.  In May 2016, Brandie was awarded a bachelor’s degree in Health Science Clinical Leadership and Management.

In addition to achieving academic accolades, Brandie has become an outspoken and articulate advocate for the rights of sexual abuse survivors.  She regularly speaks publicly, serves on the Attorney General’s Survivor’s Council, and is an invaluable partner for the OPSVAW.

2013 and 2016 were just the first steps in Brandie’s extraordinary

By Carol Jordan

Ashley Judd (left) and Carol Jordan (right), executive director of the University of Kentucky Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women.

The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) in the College of Arts and Sciences has selected four graduate students to receive awards and support during the 2018 academic year.

The students were selected following a competitive proposal process the OPSVAW holds each year. Student support is among the top priorities of the OPSVAW, and the 2018 academic year will see the office fund one research assistantship and three graduate fellowships through three funding mechanisms. 

The Ashley T. Judd Distinguished Graduate Fellowship

The Ashley T. Judd Distinguished Graduate Fellowship is being awarded to Helen Kras in

Carol E. Jordan, executive director of the University of Kentucky's Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, taught a Political Science seminar during the fall semester 2017 based on her book, "Violence Against Women in Kentucky: A History of U.S. and State Legislative Reform." The seminar, which Jordan has also taught in previous fall semesters through the Political Science Department, takes a hands-on approach to teaching students about legislative reforms accomplished to advance the end of violence in narrow terms, and the advancement of social justice in broader terms.

Jordan says her book, Violence Against Women in

The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women in the College of Arts & Sciences has announced creation of the Ashley T. Judd Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. Ashley Judd, who is a University of Kentucky alumna, feminist, and social justice humanitarian, was on campus for the announcement. 

“We are proud to recognize the impassioned work of one of the college’s alumni and pleased to have the opportunity to use Ashley’s work to teach graduate students across disciplines,” said Mark Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 

“The Ashley T. Judd Distinguished Graduate Fellowship is a rightful way to honor Ashley’s efforts to end violence against girls and women, and an extraordinary chance to inspire the next generation of scholars and activists,” said Carol E. Jordan, executive director of the Office for Policy

By Whitney Hale

Ashley Judd delivers the UK College of Social Work Irma Sarett Rosenstein Lecture on campus Dec. 1. Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

Watch a video above with "the silence breakers" created by Time magazine.

University of Kentucky graduate Ashley Judd is among the group of “silence breakers” that has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for their efforts to shine a spotlight on sexual misconduct in America.

“The galvanizing actions of the women on our cover … along with those of hundreds of others, and of many men as well, have unleashed one of the

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

During FY 2017, the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Office for Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, will provide five community trainings focusing on the new Interpersonal Protective Orders (IPOs) that are now available in cases of dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The trainings will review the size of the problems of dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and specifically how they impact teens and college students. Title IX will also be discussed. Finally, the new statute on IPOs will be explained in detail, including the process by which victims can access IPOs, and the roles of schools and universities.

DATES AND LOCATIONS

September 12, 2016, Elizabethtown Police Department
300 South Mulberry, Elizabethtown KY

November 29, 2016, Marriott Griffin Gate

MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 14, 2016) – The University of Kentucky's Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) in the College of Arts & Sciences and the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence (KCADV) Monday jointly released guidelines for how schools and universities can effectively ensure that students can access interpersonal protective orders (IPOs). 

IPOs were created through HB 8 of the 2015 General Assembly, which became effective Jan. 1, 2016. They extend civil protections to victims of dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

”The passage of 2015 HB 8 was an extraordinary accomplishment; it means little, however, if our students don’t know that civil protective orders are now

On January 30, 2016, with the death of Senator Georgia Davis Powers, the Commonwealth lost the live voice of a courageous champion for racial justice and for the betterment of women, children, and those living in poverty. Almost half a century earlier, in 1968, Powers took her civil rights activism to Frankfort as she became the first African American and the first woman ever elected to the Kentucky State Senate. Senator Powers’ public service career focused heavily on the needs of women, and she often said that her preparation for being an outspoken pioneer in matters of gender started in her childhood years as she grew up the only girl in a family of nine children. Within the pages of her autobiography, I Shared the Dream: The Pride, Passion, and Politics of the First Black Woman Senator from Kentucky, Senator Powers also revealed the way in which sexual violence personally marked

The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) announced today that he application window for its Women’s Empowerment Scholarship is now open. “We are excited to open the application period for the 2016/2017 academic year,” said Carol Jordan, the executive director of the OPSVAW. “We know that education can set a woman who has suffered abuse during her lifetime on a path to nonviolence and recovery, and there is perhaps no institution better positioned to advancing that recovery than (the University of Kentucky,” said Jordan. “The education that UK can offer fulfills dreams and puts a woman’s full potential within her reach.”

The OPSVAW created the Women’s Empowerment Scholarship Program to give women access to education as a means of escaping violence and abuse or diminishing the effects of child or adulthood victimization. The ultimate goal, said Jordan is

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2015) — The University of Kentucky will host 140 Fulbright students from Pakistan, who recently arrived in the United States for their graduate studies, at the Fulbright Pakistan Fall Seminar Nov. 5-8, 2015. The seminar, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Educational Foundation in Pakistan, will focus on how social justice movements have shaped contemporary U.S. life and culture. Carol E. Jordan, executive director of the University of Kentucky Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, will give the keynote address for event.

The seminar will also address how to be successful in the U.S. higher education system, and participants

Students studying the history of legislative reforms addressing violence against women benefited from a special guest in their Monday political science class taught by Professor Carol Jordan. Representative John Tilley (D, 8th House District) served as the primary sponsor for the most significant piece of legislation related to domestic violence and sexual assault passed by the 2015 General Assembly. He spoke to Professor Jordan’s PS 492 class about the need for what became known as House Bill 8; the provisions of the bill; and how it will expand protection to a broader group of assault, rape, and stalking victims.  Political Science and Gender & Women’s Studies majors in the class also posed questions to him about the political process that ultimately resulted in the bill’s passage.

"Having Representative Tilley speak to the students was an incredible opportunity for them

The 2015 General Assembly passed legislation that will extend civil protections to sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking victims starting January 1, 2016 (2015 House Bill 8). On October 15, Legal Aid of the Bluegrass will host The Summit of Interpersonal and Domestic Violence Orders, a free all-day event that seeks to answer some of the questions expected to come from the expanded domestic violence laws.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Currently, in Kentucky, couples who do not live together, do not have a child together, and who are unmarried are not protected under the current emergency protection order

LEXINGTON.  September 9, 2015.  Today the Verizon Foundation announced the 2015 Kentucky HopeLine Drive which will collect used mobile phones and accessories and turn them into grants for three domestic violence-related programs in the state. The Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) is one of those programs; the grant award supporting creation of an experiential education course that will begin in the spring semester of 2016.  The experiential education course is a joint project of the OPSVAW, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of Gender & Women's Studies.  It will allow UK students to be placed with victim-serving agencies (including the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center and Greenhouse17) in internships that offer hands-on learning for students while also providing support to these vital agencies.

In the course of speaking at the press