Gender violence prevention and education founder to visit WMU

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—An internationally known expert in gender violence prevention and education will visit the Western Michigan University campus this month to tackle the troubling issue of gender violence as part of the Raise Your Voice speaker series.

Dr. Jackson Katz, is an educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist who is internationally renowned for his pioneering scholarship and activism on issues of gender and violence. Katz will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in 2452 Knauss Hall. His presentation is titled "Violence and Silence: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help."

Dr. Jackson Katz

In 1993 Katz co-founded of the gender violence prevention and education program Mentors In Violence Prevention program at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society. He is internationally recognized for his work in the field of gender violence prevention education. The mixed-gender, multiracial program is one of the longest-running and most widely influential sexual and relationship abuse prevention programs in high schools, colleges, sports culture and the military in North America and beyond. The program introduced the "bystander" approach to the gender violence prevention field, and Katz is regarded as one of the key architects of the now broadly popular approach.

In 1997 Katz created the first worldwide gender violence prevention program in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. He and his colleagues have been centrally involved in the development and implementation of system-wide bystander intervention training in the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

The MVP program has also been utilized on U.S. Army bases in the United States and overseas in Iraq. Katz's award-winning educational videos Tough Guise and Tough Guise 2, his featured appearances in the films Wrestling With Manhood, Spin The Bottle, Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In, and his many of lectures in North America and overseas have brought his insights into issues of gender and violence to millions of college and high school students as well as professionals in education, human services, public health and law enforcement.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/honors/events/raise-your-voice.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.