a2ru Welcomes New Program Coordinator, Charisse Willis

a2ru is delighted to announce that Charisse Willis has been selected as the new a2ru Program Coordinator beginning October 21, 2019. Charisse Willis received a BA in English from Wagner College. She also holds a MA in English Language and Literature and a PhD in English and Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan. During her time at UM, she served two years as the Co-Coordinator for the Religion in the Early Modern Atlantic Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop and three years as the Meeting and Event Coordinator for the Early Modern Colloquium. Currently, she volunteers with the UM Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC), and works with their Raise the Bar program to teach bar, restaurant, and transportation staff how to identify consensual versus perpetrating behavior and serve as active bystanders. She encourages students to find ways to combine their academic interests with community engagement through a scholarship she established at Wagner College, Academics for Activism. This scholarship is awarded annually to students who plan to enter higher education for the express purpose of strengthening their ongoing activist work in underprivileged communities. Charisse currently serves as the Conference Coordinator for the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.