VAWA MEI - Staff

Project Staff

BarbaraHart

Barbara Hart, J.D.

Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine
Principal Investigator

Barbara J. Hart is the Director of Strategic Justice Initiatives in the Justice Policy Program of the Cutler Institute on Health and Social Policy of the Muskie School of Public Service. Ms. Hart is a Principal Investigator on the Violence Against Women Measuring Effectiveness Initiative (VAWA MEI) and Principal Investigator on the Building Economic Security for Survivors (BESS) Project.

Her work includes public policy development, training, and technical assistance on a broad range of issues such as: advocacy; economic justice and security for survivors; systems to monitor batterer intervention programs; implementation of coordinated community intervention systems; development and critique of legislation; construction of court procedures and standards; consultation on impact litigation; and design of training curricula. She has served as a leader in the national efforts to implement the Violence Against Women Act.

Ms. Hart hosts a series of monthly, national/international audioconferences, designed to create discourse between prominent researchers and expert practitioners. Web libraries and MP3s are produced for the audioconferences.

Ms. Hart writes a monthly column for the National Bulletin on Domestic Violence Prevention , a West-Thomson publication, and has authored and co-authored many articles on domestic violence, including: State Codes on Domestic Violence: Analysis, Commentary and Recommendations; Model Code on Domestic and Family Violence; Safety and Accountability:
The Underpinnings of a Just Justice System; Confronting Domestic Violence: Effective Police Response; Seeking Justice: Coordinated Justice System Intervention Against Domestic Violence; Safety for Women: Monitoring Batterers' Programs; and Accountability: Program Standards for Batterer Intervention Services.

KateArno

Kate Arno

Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine
Project Director

Kate is a senior manager/senior policy associate for the Violence Against Women Measuring Effectiveness Initiative (VAWA MEI) at the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine (USM). She serves as VAWA MEI Project Director, coordinating logistics and operations, identifying and implementing system improvements, and managing its budget.

Before joining the Muskie School staff, Kate worked for six years as Director of Training & Communications at the Maine Small Business Development Centers at USM. There, her work with women entrepreneurs led her to develop a quantitative study of almost 400 women business owners. Kate is the author of a series of online columns and a book called Self Employment Savvy, which chronicles the stories of small business owners who overcome obstacles to success. She has also worked on the BESS (Building Economic Security for Survivors) project at the Muskie School, supporting sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions in nine states to develop economic security initiatives for survivors.

Kate has a B.S. in Journalism and a Masters Degree in Public Policy & Management.

	Tina Aubut Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Project Assistant
	Maureen Baker Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Policy Associate Maureen Baker serves as the Training Coordinator where she designs and implements synchronous and asynchronous distance learning programs for national VAWA MEI program grantees. She also leads grantee trainings and data analyses work on the Supervised Visitation program grant and the Sexual Assault Services Formula Grant program. Maureen provides training and technical assistance on data reporting to OVW Technical Assistance providers. Maureen has a passion for training, group facilitation, and strategic planning especially as it relates to building collaborative relationships across diverse social service systems. Throughout her career, she has worked with professionals in the fields of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse, substance abuse, and criminal justice to identify and minimize barriers to integrated service delivery. In addition, she has over fifteen years experience in the field of domestic violence, both as an advocate for battered women and children and as a community educator. In addition to her work with VAWA MEI, she is the Project Director for the Maine/ New Hampshire Victim Assistance Academy where she coordinates professional development opportunities for crime victim advocates in Maine and New Hampshire.
	Jean Bessette Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Associate Jean Bessette is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, is Project Director for the Building Economic Security for Survivors (BESS) project, and worked previously on the Snapshot Project, all funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She has worked on other domestic violence, child welfare, and court projects. Ms. Bessette has a particular interest in economic justice and its intersection with public health, social services, and rural issues.
	Alison Beyea, J.D. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Associate Ms. Beyea provides expertise in child and family law, the provision of legal assistance for underserved populations, and in formulating training and evaluation programs. She has served as a Guardian ad litem in contested family law proceedings.
	Jennifer Dodge Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Assistant Jennifer Dodge is a Research Assistant II with the Violence Against Women Act Measuring Effectiveness Initiative. She works to compile and analyze qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to projects concerning domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. She also works on the Building Economic Security for Survivors (BESS) project and at Muskie's Survey Research Center. Originally from Maine, Jen has a B.A. in English and Women's Studies from Tufts University and received a master's in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School in 2009.
	Carmen Dorsey, J.D. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Director of Justice Policy Program As a sixteen-year employee of the Muskie School of Public Service and Director of the Justice Policy Program, Carmen contributes expertise and provides consultation in project management and administration of the VAWA MEI Initiative. She also contributes expertise and consultation in developing data sources and designing data systems to inform emerging and pressing justice and social policy issues, and approaches to evaluating and describing impact. Carmen has led numerous nationally-recognized justice policy research initiatives and demonstration projects, including reduction of disproportionate minority youth contact in the justice system, measurement of recidivism and reentry outcomes in adult and juvenile community corrections, examination of gun violence from a public health and social justice perspective, and improvement of non-custodial parents' ability to acknowledge paternity and pay child support. In 2007, she received the Sylvestre Award for outstanding achievements in advancing criminal justice statistics in the states from the Department of Justice, and in 2000 she received a Quality Award from the National Staff Development and Training Association. Carmen is also the Director of the Maine Statistical Analysis Center (SAC). The SAC enhances the state's capacity to estimate implications of legislative and policy changes, and addresses justice issues through applied research and data. Current and planned projects include a statewide crime victimization report (2011), juvenile justice data book (2012), and drug offense and drug offender recidivism report (2012). She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Justice Research and Statistics Association.
	Oksana Fearon Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Analyst Oksana Fearon is a Research Analyst at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She is originally from Russia where she received her Masters in Linguistics and Intercultural Communications, and BA in Economics. She is currently enrolled in a graduate program in Public Policy and Management with concentrations in Organizational Management.
	Heidi Gage Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Administrative Assistant
	Diane Gout Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Associate Dr. Diane Gout has worked in the field of violence against women for over 20 years. She has experience in trauma-based practice and has worked with survivors of rape, incest, and domestic violence. In addition to direct practice intervention, Dr. Gout has worked with multi-disciplinary teams to develop policies and protocols, evaluate systems, and conduct research on issues of trauma and abuse. She has experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Dr. Gout conferred her PhD from Boston University in the Interdisciplinary Sociology and Social Work Program. Her dissertation is entitled "Cultural identity and familial relationships as protective factors against intimate partner violence among American Indian and Alaska Native mothers." She was invited to present her study at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization conference in July, 2010 and at the Bureau of Justice Statistics/Justice Research and Statistics Association National Conference in October, 2010. Currently, Dr. Gout is a member of the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative Senior Management Team, funded by the Department of Justice. She oversees the analysis and reporting of data from 13 discretionary grant programs submitted by more than 1,000 OVW-funded agencies and organizations every six months. She coordinates the drafting of the Biennial Report to Congress. As well, she provides training and technical assistance to over 200 OVW funded tribal grantees each year. Through this work, she has developed positive relationships and connections with these tribal communities. In December 2008, she presented an overview of the data collected specifically from tribal grantees to the Section 904 Task Force Federal Advisory Committee. Dr. Gout is also the Principal Investigator for the evaluation of the Indian Health Service (IHS) Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative (DVPI) Training, Technical Assistance and Evaluation Project awarded in October, 2010. The first data of its kind to be collected, the evaluation of the domestic violence and sexual assault response initiative will measure the extent to which project expectations are being met and the degree to which the program was implemented with fidelity and adapted to the target population at the local and national levels. The findings will be critical for future research, policy, and program considerations.
	Diane Hitchcock Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Analyst Diane Hitchcock is a Research Analyst at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. Diane received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration (M.P.A.) from the University of Colorado Denver where she also completed the CU Denver Program on Domestic Violence. She holds a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Diane has experience as a Relationship Violence Prevention Educator and Community Organizer. Prior to coming to the Muskie School, she was a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Colorado Denver focusing her efforts on violence against women.
	Simranjit Khaira Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Computer and Database Specialist Simran is currently working as a Computer and Database Specialist at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence against Women, where she assists with data cleaning and database development. Simran holds a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Applications, and has more than five years of experience in the IT field. She has experience in creating Access databases and along with operational research topics, she has taught C and C++ programming languages to the graduate and undergraduate students at Punjab Technical University Study Center, India.
	Sameer Mahimkar Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Data Manager and Research Analyst Sameer Mahimkar is a Data Manager and Research Analyst with the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. He has been working at Muskie School since February 2002. At the Muskie School, most of his work involves designing and maintaining databases, website designing and maintenance, data file creation and data analysis, data extraction from large databases, and providing training and technical assistance to the project staff on using the database and web-designing technology. He is currently involved in three federally funded national projects. He has developed menu-driven, user-friendly database management systems. These databases are used nationally by various grantees of the Office on Violence against Women (OVW) to collect the data required to report their program effectiveness. He has also planned, designed, and maintained a website. He assisted in upgrading a web-based application designed in ASP.NET and SQL server and has created a web-based conference registration management system. He will also be working on creating a web-based reporting system for the program funded by Indian Health Services. Mr. Mahimkar's technical, quantitative data collection and analysis skills have been utilized in a variety of state and national projects. .
	Karen Monahan Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Associate Karen Monahan has extensive experience with evaluation of state court initiatives and legal services organizations, and with performance measurement for local non-profits. She directed an evaluation of a domestic violence pilot project at five of Maine’s District Courts that included the development of a procedures manual for judges, clerks, and court security officers involved in domestic violence cases. She directed the reassessment of Michigan’s Court Improvement Program (2005) and co-directed the reassessment of the State of Connecticut’s Court Improvement Project (2006), which in both cases studied those states’ compliance with federal and state mandates and standards of practice in the handling of child protection cases. As a member of the management team of the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, Ms. Monahan oversees the analysis and reporting of data for the STOP Program (approx. 2400 subgrantees from all 56 states and territories) and provides training and technical assistance to STOP administrators and other VAWA grantees on how to complete the progress reporting forms. Ms. Monahan’s background is in legal services, civil litigation, and market research.
	Amy Perry Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Assistant Amy Perry is a Research Assistant II at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. Prior to joining the Muskie School staff, she worked in Quality Management for non-profit mental health agencies in both Maine and Massachusetts. She attended Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, where she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Psychology. She worked for several years at a local Rape Crisis Center, where she educated the community on sexual assault awareness, as well as provided crisis counseling, and legal/medical advocacy for survivors. Her work also includes case management and Continuous Quality Improvement for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
	Lorilei Richardson Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Analyst Lori Richardson is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She also worked on the New Americans Child Care Choices of Parents of English Language Learners project. Lori is originally from northern Maine and attended the University of Maine, Orono where she received a Master of Science in Human Development, and BA in Psychology with an additional major in Child Development and Family Relations. At the University of Southern Maine, she earned a Certificate of Applied Research & Evaluation Methods. Lori is a doctoral student in the Gerontology program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She aspires to evermore work in the research field.
	Andrew Richter Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Assistant Andrew Richter is a Research Assistant II at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. He is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. Before coming to the Muskie School, Mr. Richter worked at Boys to Men, a Portland-based non-profit, and served as a crisis line volunteer with a domestic violence resource center. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2009 with a B.S. in Public Administration and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy & Management at the Muskie School.
	Amy Sullivan Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Project Assistant Amy O. Sullivan is a Project Assistant II in the Justice Policy Program at the Cutler Institute for Health & Social Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the Muskie School's VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence against Women providing support and coordination for training and professional development. She attended Providence College in Rhode Island where she received her Bachelors of Arts with a major in Humanities and minor in Women’s Studies. She is currently enrolled in a graduate program at the USM Lewiston-Auburn College, working on her Master's degree in Leadership Studies
	Kathy Tombarelli Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Assistant Kathy Tombarelli is a Research Assistant II at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the Muskie School's VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She is originally from the west and has lived in several states including Texas, California and Washington. She attended the University of Southern Maine, Portland where she received her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science. She is currently enrolled in a graduate program at the Muskie School of Public Service, working on Master's degree in Public Policy and Management.
	Susan Walker Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Analyst/Project Coordinator Susan Walker is a Research Analyst and Project coordinator at the Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative project, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She has been working at Muskie since July 2002. While working on the VAWA project she developed a system using Access databases to automate the cleaning of the data. She received her masters in Public Policy and Management in May of 2004. Certificate in Research and Evaluation Methods in January of 2004, and BS in Leadership and Organizational Studies in May 2002. Before that she managed an organic vegetable farm CSA in Standish while she helped raise six children. She enjoys being outdoors and taking photos of nature and unusual things.
	Sun Young Yoon Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine Research Associate Sun Young Yoon, Research Associate, joined the Muskie School after leaving a lecturer position at Ewha Womens University in Seoul, South Korea where she taught graduate level courses including research methods in child and family studies and social statistics. At the Muskie School, she is currently working on the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative analyzing data collected from grantees funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. She is also the Co-Principal Investigator of Children At Risk in the Child Welfare System: Collaborations to Promote School Readiness, a research project funded by the Child Care Bureau. Dr. Yoon holds a Ph.D. in Child and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.