Inspired by the famous TED talks, the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University hosted its first Public Service Impact Talks on Tuesday night to celebrate its new name: the College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
The first series included speeches from Dean Jonathan Koppell as well as School of Social Work faculty Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, Michelle Carney and Joanne Cacciatore.
Koppell said that he launched the Public Service Impact Talks to build strong communities. The talks are a way to, “make the amazing work done in our school more accessible and more knowable to people in the community.”
Koppell said the school’s name was changed to better reflect what the college is about.
“We are a commitment to find answers,” Koppell said.
Roe-Sepowitz, associate professor and director for the School of Social Work, addressed how innovation and collaboration are making a difference in the world of sex trafficking. She spoke about the harm caused to those who are sex trafficked and solutions to help and prevent the situation.
“People can become something more than what we expect,” she said. “Victims can become somebody. It takes just one person’s voice to make a change.”
She said her research aims to deliver help to victims and survivors and to give law enforcement the tools to resist intensifying sophisticated criminals.
Carney, professor and director for the School of Social Work, discussed how to put an end to domestic violence including what works, what doesn’t, and why. Domestic violence-related topics typically focus on nurturing the victims, but Carney’s research focuses more on the perpetrators.
“Why aren’t we working with the batterers?” she said.
Carney analyzed the type of person who causes violence and their motives for doing so. She also addressed the notion that only men are violent.
“Forget gender,” she said.
Cacciatore, associate professor for the School of Social Work at ASU, spoke about “why death and grief are necessary for life and joy.”
Cacciatore experienced multiple deaths throughout the course of her life, including the loss of her parents, best friend, partners and later, her daughter.
This trauma caused her to fall into a state of “temporary but necessary madness.”
“Since then, I have committed my life to the service of others suffering traumatic deaths, as it was in the darkness when I truly found myself,” Cacciatore said.
Cacciatore said she explored the ways in which dark emotions can enhance lives, relationships and opportunities for meaning and purpose.
She said there is no pill to that kind of grief, and the only thing a person can do is create a space so that the love can eventually live alongside grief.
Heather Beshears, director of strategic marketing and communications of the College of Public Service and Community Solutions, said the new series gives the community insight into what the college does and the problems it addresses.
“This series offers the opportunity to hear directly from the people who are so passionate about finding solutions to challenges locally, and globally,” Beshears said. “Through this series, we show the diverse, interdisciplinary work that defines our college.”
Contact the reporter at catherineann.nolen@asu.edu
