Join The Badger Herald and PAVE in kicking off Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a panel discussion on ending sexual assault at University of Wisconsin.

Looking at national survey results that said 27.6 percent of women on campus have experienced sexual assault, this conversation will address what needs to happen to change the climate on our campus. The event is April 4 at Union South, room to be determined.

Get to know the panelists:

Myka Held

Myka Held is the first staff attorney for SurvJustice, a national not-for-profit organization focused on achieving justice for survivors of sexual violence. Throughout her academic and professional careers, she has dedicated herself to supporting victims of sexual violence. Held earned a bachelor’s degree in Women & Gender Studies and American Studies from Brandeis University, a master’s degree in Women & Gender Studies from Loyola University Chicago and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Read more about Held here.

Valyncia Raphael

Valyncia Raphael is a conduct coordinator in the UW Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. In this role, she develops and facilitates training for sexual violence hearing officers. She is also a doctoral candidate and the Distinguished Virginia Horne Henry Fellow in the UW School of Education. Her research interests are social identity development and civil rights equity law and compliance in higher education. Raphael is also a licensed Wisconsin attorney and alumna of UW Law School. Read more about Raphael here.

Robert Brown

Robert Brown is associate director of the Multicultural Student Center at UW, where he leads several social justice education initiatives. Brown is also co-chair of the Men & Masculinities Initiative, where he worked with a team of professionals to develop Men’s Project at UW. He earned his M.A. in Student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University and B.S. in Finance and non-profit management from DePaul University. Read more about Brown here.

Anders Kristensen

Anders Kristensen is a founding member and current president of We’re Better Than That: Men Against Sexual Assault. WBTT seeks to “educate and engage the male student population … on issues of sexual violence.” He will graduate in May with a Bachelor’s degree in political science. He was a UW men’s soccer student athlete on the varsity team for four years. He is also an international student from Denmark. Here’s our past coverage of WBTT on campus.

UW men’s org fights sexual assault by turning spotlight on themselves

Carmen Hotvedt

Carmen Hotvedt is the manager of Violence Prevention and Victim Advocacy at University Health Services. She has previously worked as project director at the U.S. Department of Justice campus grant program to address violence against women at UW from 2008-2011. Her expertise include primary prevention best practices, institutional responses to sexual violence, student activism and peer education and working with men to prevent violence against women. Read more about Hotvedt here.

Sophie Nielsen

Sophie Nielsen is chair of PAVE: Promoting Awareness and Victim Empowerment. As chair she is focused on ensuring all PAVE services and events are comprehensive, intersectional and accessible to UW students. This is her third year in the organization. Nielsen is a senior in UW’s Bachelor of Social Work program. Learn more about PAVE here.

Have a question you’d like the panel to address? Email [email protected].