The Center for Research on Sexual Violence and Empowerment is founded on a strengths-based approach that acknowledges individuals’ lived experiences and resilience in the development of a strong sense of sexual health and well-being. We understand and embrace the challenges and successes of this development and seek to create an environment that values and respects people of varied backgrounds and perspectives. To this end, we will prioritize trauma-informed care (TIC) approaches that prioritize healing and understanding the far-reaching impact of experiencing violence. We will also facilitate interdisciplinary research on the root causes and impacts of sexual and gender-based violence within school, university, and other societal ecosystems. For society to address the imbalance of power and resultant violence we must acknowledge and work to ameliorate the exploitation by some individuals onto others. Our vision is to create a climate where people of varied backgrounds and experiences feel empowered to control their own sexual expression. We are committed to supporting anti-racist, feminist research approaches by faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and their collaborators. Achieving empowerment is realized when individuals are able to experience autonomy for their sexual health decisions and when individuals feel confident that their sexual health related beliefs and behaviors will be valued and respected.

Support for the inception of CRSVE came in large part from student activism around the need for University environments to proactively and comprehensively address sexual violence on college campuses. More specifically, the President’s Task Force for Combating Sexual Violence and Supporting Our Students was generated and developed by UConn students, staff, and faculty and made multiple recommendations for addressing and bringing to light the urgency of addressing sexual violence; one such recommendation was the formation of a research center devoted to exploring and generating novel approaches and policy recommendations for addressing sexual violence. At CRSVE, we are devoted to seeing this mission through and seek out the involvement of students, staff, and faculty throughout the process of reaching our goals.