Catalyst Summit
A creative collection for cultural change surrounding Relationship & Sexual Violence on College Campuses
New This Year
The 2025 Catalyst Summit is the first of its kind! This two-day event brings together practitioners, advocates, and scholars to explore innovative, collaborative approaches to primary prevention of relationship and sexual violence on college campuses. Through interactive workshops and reflective sessions, participants will engage in collective dreaming and practical experimentation to reimagine prevention work.
Meet Our 2025 Catalyst Summit Highlighted Voices!
Dr. Chris Linder
Dr. Chris Linder is Professor and Chair, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. She founded the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention and served as the Director until May of 2025. Chris is the author of Sexual Violence on Campus and co-author of Thinking Like an Abolitionist to End Sexual Violence in Higher Education. She is also the Editor of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Prior to becoming faculty, Chris worked as a student affairs educator and administrator for 10 years, spending the majority of her career as a director of a campus-based women's center supporting survivors of sexual violence.
Nadeeka Karunaratne, PhD
Nadeeka Karunaratne, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Research Associate at the University of Utah's McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. In her research, she employs power-conscious and transformative frameworks to understand issues of sexual violence, focusing on interrupting harm and promoting radical healing. Nadeeka's background in student affairs, specifically her work in campus cultural centers and with university violence prevention efforts, influences her scholarship. She works with college students and staff across the country to infuse intersectional, healing-centered approaches into their work and is a trauma-informed yoga instructor who leads healing yoga programs.
Summit Overview
Dr. Chris Linder will explore the guiding principles of primary prevention
Learn about abolitionist frameworks, primary prevention, and collective action as the foundation for the summit.
Understand Harm with Allie Moore and Elaine Newton
Examine how harm is caused, how it’s experienced differently, and how we all have the capacity to cause it.
Why Harm Happens with Tillie Powell
Delve into the root causes of sexual harm, including disconnection, trauma, and lack of empathy.
Reflect and Connect
Engage in a collaborative session to process insights, share ideas, and envision how to apply the work in your own community.
Join the MCVP Staff for Dinner
Meet the MCVP Staff and network with other participants.
Engaging Students
Hear from MCVP student staff about their experiences with learning, reflection, and creative prevention work.
Dr. Nadeeka Karunaratne will inspect how to learn from students
Explore research on how institutions can better support student survivors through culturally relevant, healing-centered approaches.
Focusing on Accountability
Participate in activities that reframe accountability beyond punishment, using tools like boundary-setting and rejection acceptance.
Dreaming to End Violence
Collaborate in a visionary session to imagine how summit insights can be transformed into real-world action.
Join the Summit
The Catalyst Summit is intended for anyone interested in engaging in
preventing sexual violence through primary prevention. This includes higher
education practitioners, student affairs professionals, student advocates,
public safety officers, and/or anyone who works with people who cause harm.
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801-581-8365
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