APRIL 26, 2023 | ONE-DAY VIRTUAL EVENT
Trauma & Resilience in Higher Education:
Naming the Urgency, Envisioning Change, Sharing Tools

Higher education today offers a unique opportunity.
Research is clear that violence & trauma create obstacles to academic success, and equally clear that everyday interventions in our communities create the possibility for change.
Join us to learn from experts who implement trauma-informed practices in their scholarship, pedagogy, and practices. Please bring your voice to this community and join the conversation.
This one-day virtual live conference explores how every encounter area—from pedagogy to campus safety, advising to financial aid, facilities to college policies and administration— can be informed by recognizing the prevalence of trauma, adversity, and toxic stress and how these impact academic outcomes.
Trauma-informed education describes a perspective or lens through which practices and services are evaluated in view of lived experience, basic neurobiology, as well as research and findings on the power of resilience behaviors and interventions to build progressive, positive outcomes.
8:30 am – 4:30 pm EST
Registration is open!
Morning Keynote
Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D.
Leading trauma researcher/clinician/scholar Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) will deliver the morning address grounding the conference in the neurobiology of trauma.
Bessel van der Kolk MD spends his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of treatments for traumatic stress in children and adults.
Featured Sessions
- Developing a Common Language: Context, History, and Fundamental Principles of Trauma-informed Pedagogies
- Janice Carello, Ph.D., LMSW – Assistant Professor at PennWest University and MSW Program Director
- The Neurobiology of Trauma and Resilience and Why That (Should) Matters to Higher Education
- Mays Imad, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor at Connecticut College and Senior Fellow, AACU STEM
- Trauma-Aware Online Teaching
- Karen Costa, M.Ed., is a faculty development facilitator (and proud adjunct!) specializing in online pedagogy and trauma-aware higher education.
- Developmental Trauma and Learning from the Body
- Laura Douglass, Ph.D. – Executive Director, Van Loan Division of Professional Studies at Endicott College
- Aubrey Threkhold, Ed.D. – Dean, School of Education at Endicott College
- Navigating the Shadow Space: College Student Experiences of Campus Spaces & (Un)Safety After Trauma
- Tricia Shalka, Ph.D. – Associate Professor in Warner School’s higher education program, University of Rochester
- Trauma-Informed and Resilience-based Nursing Curriculum
- Teresa M. Stephens, Ph.D., MSN, RN, CNE – Associate Professor at Galen College of Nursing
- A Trauma-informed Approach to Working with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Higher Education
- Joanna Bridger, LICSW – Founder of Safety, Hope, & Healing Counseling and Consulting
- Rebecca Mirick, Ph.D., LICSW – Associate Professor at Salem State University School of Social Work
- Trauma-Informed Campus Safety and Policing
- Phil DiBlasi, J.D – Chief of Police at MassBay Community College
- Heidi Getchell-Bastien, J.D. – Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Government at MassBay Community College
- David Thomas, Ph.D., LMHC – Professor of Forensic Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University
- Trauma-Informed Community College Pedagogies
- Developmental Math: Meredith Watts – Assistant Professor of Mathematics at MassBay Community College
- College Writing: Jeanie Tietjen, Ph.D. – Director of the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, & Resilience in Higher Education at MassBay Community College
- Chair & Classroom Design: Katerina Cipriano – Research Intern at Institute for Trauma, Adversity, & Resilience in Higher Education at MassBay Community College
- Challenging Neo-Liberal Conceptualizations of Self-Care in Higher Education
- Shradda Prabhu, Ph.D. – Associate Professor at PennWest University
- Janice Carello, Ph.D., LMSW – Assistant Professor at PennWest University and MSW Program Director

Designed for all stakeholders
in Higher Education.
Faculty
Student Services
Administrators
Executive Leadership
Clinicians
Topics We Will Discuss

The History of
Trauma-Informed
Higher Education

Trauma-Informed
Pedagogy

Neurobiology of Trauma and How That Matters in Higher Ed

Equity Centered
Trauma-Informed

Trauma-Informed Virtual Learning

Trauma-Informed Campus Safety and Policing

Trauma-Informed Student Services

Trauma-Informed Facilities Including Desk and Classroom Design
Generously supported by MassBay Community College and made possible with grant funding from the United States Department of Education Title III.
The contents of this event and website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.