Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, a student organization dedicated to making the issue of sexual assault known, announced new leadership positions for the spring semester Tuesday, in combination with efforts to heighten sexual assault awareness.

PAVE is a year-old organization formed by UW-Madison senior Angela Rose, a sexual assault survivor.

Dana Borowski will act as PAVE’s chair for the spring semester. Borowski took the opportunity to intern at PAVE through the women’s studies department and will receive credit for the work she does.

“When I met Angela, it clicked immediately,” Borowski said. “I knew this was what I wanted to do. Sexual assault is a thing that the campus community really needs to be informed about.”

Since the group’s inception, its popularity has spawned a chapter at UW-Eau Claire and a national following.

“I get e-mails from people across the country who want to start their own PAVEs,” Rose said. “I even got an e-mail from an 11-year-old girl from New Jersey.”

The organization was run almost entirely by Rose last semester, but this semester, it will include the new positions of vice chair, visibility coordinator, LGBTQ coordinator, childhood sexual abuse outreach coordinator and diversity coordinator.

The group plans several events, including a Conference of Healing and the release of an educational “From Victim to Survivor” video. PAVE celebrates its first birthday Feb. 8 and kicks off the new semester Feb. 12.

“PAVE has a lot of events planned for the spring 2002 semester,” Rose said. “This new leadership is a great addition to the ever-increasing goals of this organization.”