New Staff, Trainings and National Recognition Bolster Our Title IX Office

Albany, N.Y. (March 22, 2016) — Underscoring its commitment to promote a respectful, safe, and nonthreatening environment for its students, faculty, staff, and visitors, the University continues to bolster its Title IX efforts. Recent staff additions, trainings and national recognition for our program highlight these enhancements.

UAlbany's new Deputy Title IX Coordinator Tricia George. (Photo courtesy of the Albany County District Attorney’s Office)

The University recently increased its capacity in the Title IX Office with the appointment of Tricia George as deputy Title IX coordinator. George will work to support the University’s Title IX efforts, working under the supervision of Title IX Coordinator, Chantelle Cleary. In this role, George will assist the Title IX Coordinator in the investigation, resolution and remediation of gender discrimination complaints and in the development, coordination and delivery of sexual violence prevention and education efforts for the campus community.

Prior to joining UAlbany, George served as the supervising victim witness specialist of the Crime Victim’s Unit in the Albany District Attorney’s Office under District Attorney David Soares since 2006. George was responsible for the coordination of victim services throughout Albany County, including assisting victims of crime as they navigated through the criminal justice system. She provided crisis intervention, victim’s rights education and made referrals to appropriate service providers. Prior to that, she spent seven years at the Albany County Crime Victims and Sexual Violence Center.

George holds a B.S. in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice from the College of Saint Rose. She is a member of several crime victim related coalitions, task forces, and resource teams, including the NYS Crime Victims' Assistance Task Force; the Domestic Violence Advisory Board; the Albany County Sexual Assault Resource Team; the Albany County LGBT Taskforce; the Child Advocacy Center Multi-Disciplinary Team; and the Albany County Coalition Against Domestic Abuse Planning Committee.

Continuing to Educate and Inform

In recognition of their expertise in this arena, Cleary and Carol Stenger, director of the University’s Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence, have provided extensive training leadership to various representatives in the SUNY system throughout the 2016 spring semester.

Together the pair presented, “Developing a Strong Working Relationship between an Advocacy Center and Title IX Coordinator.” The webinar addresses the extraordinary benefits of a close collaborative relationship between the Title IX Coordinator and professional campus sexual violence advocates. As one of the first Universities to implement an Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence, UAlbany designed the Center to provide a safe and welcoming environment for students to receive support and advocacy services in the aftermath of sexual violence including, but not limited to, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and/or stalking.

On March 31, Stenger will facilitate a training for SUNY Cortland Student Affairs, Student Conduct, University Police, Residence Life, Counseling, Title IX representatives titled “Recognizing and Responding to Stalking / Trauma Informed Best Practices.”

Additionally, Cleary and Stenger will present a webinar and discuss the development and implementation of the JUST ASK campaign. The UAlbany campaign was successfully launched across all three campuses in September 2015 to raise awareness about sexual violence and the University’s array of prevention education efforts, as well as to facilitate a campus-wide conversation about this critical issue affecting college campuses nationwide.

High Praise for UAlbany’s Program

Last month, UAlbany’s Office of the Title IX Coordinator cosponsored a visit by John Krakauer as part of the New York State Writers Institute spring line-up. Krakauer is one of America’s biggest-selling authors of outdoor adventure nonfiction and is also renowned for his new book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (2015). The book chronicles a series of rapes that occurred in Missoula over a four-year period.

Cleary moderated the lively Krakauer Q&A session which included more than 150 attendees. Krakauer shared high praise for the University’s efforts to support and educate it campus community on the issue of sexual violence, saying “This Albany campus, at least, and it sounds like the whole University system, is way ahead of the rest of the country.”

Just Ask Tuesdays

Cleary also announces new Title IX office hours daily from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. in Campus Center 370. The hours are intended to provide students the opportunity to come in and ask questions about sexual assault issues, relay concerns, make suggestions, and continue the conversation started with the University’s Just Ask Campaign.

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