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Molly Riportella ’12MS, a librarian in Westwood, Massachusetts, found a way to discreetly supply resources to people in violent relationships.

• Health & Wellness
• Social Justice & Advocacy

Sadina Shawver ’17MS is Assistant Branch Manager in Youth Services at the Harris County Public Library in Texas, which was designated a book sanctuary in September of 2023. Shawver shares how she handles challenges to library materials, and protects the freedom to read.

• Internships & Careers
• Social Justice & Advocacy

On January 19, Simmons’ Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) hosted “Islamophobia in the United States: Understanding Past and Present Anti-Muslim Discrimination,” a virtual lecture by Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Research for the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding Saher Selod. This talk chronicled the history of anti-Muslim racism and demonstrated how 9/11 instituted a new era of the racialization of Muslims.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Research
• Social Justice & Advocacy

A recent CBS news segment chronicles the journeys of openly-gay bishops within the Episcopal Church. The story centers around trailblazer Bishop Gene Robinson, and also spotlights Jeffrey Mello ’00MSW, who became Bishop Diocesan in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut in 2022.

• LGBTQIA+
• Social Justice & Advocacy

Professor Laura Saunders shares how she supported an anti-book banning resolution in her town of Somerville, Massachusetts.

• Community Engagement
• Social Justice & Advocacy

A clinical social worker and an Associate Professor of Practice in the Simmons University School of Social Work, Olivia Montgomery offers talks on anti-fat bias and health care in her community. In her virtual testimony, she related an experience visiting a new primary care physician.

• Health & Wellness
• Social Justice & Advocacy

This fall, Simmons students from the Social Action Leaders course are channeling their academic studies into advocacy. We spoke with students Felipa Arevalo '25, Lisa deRosier ’24, and Rashida Alisa Hagakore ’24 about their passion for experiential service learning and their conception of good leadership.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Leadership
• Online Student
• Social Justice & Advocacy

Author Marivi Soliven shares how her work as a Filipino interpreter inspires her writing and philanthropy, and her motivates her to share the Filipino experience in her work.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Internships & Careers
• Social Justice & Advocacy

Menstrual equity is an under-discussed and under-researched topic within academia, politics, and the general populace. Katarina Sousa ’24 is breaking the silence with her groundbreaking research and activism in Massachusetts.

• Mentorship
• Research
• Social Justice & Advocacy

This Saturday is Women’s Equality Day, which commemorates the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibits the states and federal government from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.

• From the President
• Social Justice & Advocacy