Porter
“Healthy Environment, Healthy Relationships” is the title of a forum with plenary speakers that Catawba College will host on campus at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 31. The event, slated for Keppel Auditorium in the Robertson College-Community Center, will feature Tony Porter, an author, educator and activist who works to advance social justice issues as chief executive officer of A Call To Men™, and Jeff Matsushita, a program specialist at the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence.
Coordinated by Catawba’s Title IX Administrator and Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr. Erin Wood, in collaboration with First Year Seminar faculty, Student and Academic Affairs, Athletics, the Honors Program, the Psychology Department and others, this forum will examine societal norms and how gender influences behavior. The forum’s goal, according to Wood, is to elevate on-campus discussion and learning about domestic and sexual violence.
Porter is internationally recognized for his efforts to prevent violence against women while promoting healthy, respectful manhood. He is an advisor to the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, providing policy consultation, working with player engagement, and facilitating violence prevention and healthy manhood training.
An international lecturer for the U.S. State Department, Porter has been a guest presenter in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and has worked with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He has served as a script consultant for the Emmy Award-winning television series, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” He is the author of “Breaking Out of the Man Box” and “NFL Dads: Dedicated to Daughters.”
Matsushita
Matsushita will be speaking with Porter at the August 31st forum at Catawba. His employer has allowed him the privilege to travel, learn, and be part of the movement to end violence against women, girls and gender non-conforming community members. As a trainer for A Call To Men™, he has worked nationally providing instruction on healthy, respectful manhood with high schools and colleges, as well as the National Football League.
The August 31st forum, “Healthy Environment, Healthy Relationships,” should last slightly less than an hour and is free and open to members of the campus community and others in the community at large who are interested in attending. For more information, including if you’re interested in bringing a group, please contact Dr. Wood at ewood@catawba.edu.
