McMaster hires sexual violence response coordinator Meaghan Ross

Meaghan Ross has joined the Office of Human Rights & Equity Services as the University’s new sexual violence response coordinator.  

In this role, Ross will coordinate a comprehensive survivor-centred response protocol to disclosures of sexual and gender-based violence. 

She will also respond to individual disclosures of sexual, intimate relationship and family violence, and will work closely with the campus community to implement a wide-range of campus-based education and prevention initiatives.

“In my mind at least, it’s a no-brainer to focus on this type of thing,” Sean Van Koughnett, McMaster’s Associate Vice-President and Dean of Students, told CBC Hamilton.

“From what I can see, there’s a level of interest there from students. Students want to know how they can talk about it with their peers.”

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Ross joins the University with more than six years’ experience in project management, including the coordination of a two-year project at McMaster entitled It’s Time to End Violence Against Women on Campus, funded by the Status of Women Canada.

She brings experience as a crisis counsellor, public educator, sessional lecturer and course instructor, as well as in-depth knowledge of the Hamilton and McMaster communities.

Ross received a Bachelor of Arts degree from McMaster in Social Work/Labour Studies (2007), as well as a Master of Arts degree in Globalization Studies from McMaster’s Institute of Globalization and the Human Condition (2008). 

She will be based in the Office of Human Rights & Equity Services, 2nd Floor, MUSC (Student Centre), Room 212, and can be reached at 905-525-9140 ext. 20909 or rossm4@mcmaster.ca.