Dr. Annelise Mennicke, a recent graduate of the doctoral program of the FSU College of Social Work, was awarded the 2015 student award for leadership and service from the Group of the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) for her work in sexual violence prevention on FSU’s campus. Working with the Florida Center for Prevention Research (FCPR) and Office of Health Promotion, she has helped to bring the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program to Florida State University. The program will officially launch in the spring of 2016. Dr. Mennicke noted how proud she was that FSU was moving in such a positive direction, as bystander intervention programs offer an innovative approach to reducing the prevalence of violence in communities.

The GADE leadership award acknowledges a doctoral student that has shown significant leadership in service, bringing visibility to the value that students offer to the social work profession by continuously offering new ways to think and grow.

Dr. Mennicke and her collaborators, FCPR Director Rick Howell and FSU’s Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator Kori Pruett were able to gain access to the Green Dot training after they received a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women, “We left the training invigorated and exited that we had the tools and skills needed to bring this program to FSU,” Mennicke explained.

Her motivation to focus on sexual violence prevention stemmed from her experiences in the field as a social worker. Dr. Mennicke was a volunteer victim advocate for a rape crisis center in Florida and witness first-hand how many people’s lives would become “dramatically altered” by their experiences of sexual violence. “Unfortunately, these experiences happen at alarmingly high rates among the college population, but with an array of programs and services, this seemed like an unnecessary part of the college experience,” she said.

She also received support from a mentor, Director of the Institute for Family Violence Studies Karen Oehme, that helped her develop a strong personal philosophy on the value of her work. “Karen Oehme instilled in me the belief that if the work you do changes one life, you have made a difference in the world,” Dr. Mennicke reflected; and her work as a student has certainly impacted FSU for the better by helping to establish tools and services that can change campus culture and encourage the prevention of sexual violence.

Dr. Mennicke’s research continues in this vein with an emphasis on the dynamics of power-based personal violence, with the ultimate goal of developing and refining prevention and intervention programs. She is currently an Assistant Professor in social work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She noted that her time at FSU and in the College of Social Work’s doctoral program have helped her prepared for this role in academia to develop and enact a research trajectory, secure and manage external funding, successfully educate students (and future social workers), and to positively impact the community through service.