January is Stalking Awareness Month. All faculty, staff and students are invited to an “Understanding Stalking Workshop” hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 from 1 – 2:15 p.m. virtually via Microsoft Teams. This workshop will be presented by Sara Ondera, State of Illinois Assistant State’s Attorney. Topics covered include: the definition of stalking, statistics, predictors, commonly reported stalking behaviors, Illinois statutes/case studies, social media and stalking, in addition to how to protect yourself. To attend this workshop, please email OVW Program Director, Alexandra Glumac at aglumac@ssc.edu by 4 p.m. on Friday, January 26. You must RSVP in order to receive the Teams link to this workshop.

Presenter bio: Ms. Ondera has been an Assistant State’s Attorney for 18 years at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Nine of those years focused on domestic violence and an overlapping 4 years included a focus on sexual assault prosecutions. Ms. Ondera graduated from John Marshall Law School in 2005 and passed the bar exam that same year. Ms. Ondera completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Speech Communications at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign in 2001. Ms. Ondera currently resides in the south suburbs with her husband and 3 kids, and works out of the Markham courthouse prosecuting sexual assault and domestic violence cases up to and including homicide.

Please note – Anew: Building Beyond Violence and Abuse is sponsoring 1.0 CEU for the following: Certified Domestic Violence Professional and Certified Partner Abuse Intervention Professional (CDVP/CPAIP), Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LPC/LCPC),and Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LSW/LCSW). When you RSVP, please indicate that you need CEU’s.

Disclaimer: This project is supported by Grant No. 2020-WA-AX-0010 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.