Victim Researcher Profile

Researcher Photo

Fran Danis

 EMAIL FRAN    
    

STATE

Texas

INSTITUTION

University of Texas at Arlington

TITLE

Associate Professor Emerita

EDUCATION

PhD

DISCIPLINE

Ecological Community Psychology

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

More than 20 years

BIO

I currently provide consultation services for research and evaluation in the area of gender justice particularly as it relates to survivors of interpersonal violence including domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Although Texas is my home base, I spend considerable time in the New York area as well. My work is informed by my professional career that parallels the recognition of the need for and development of services addressing violent crime and in particular sexual and domestic violence. I was the founder and first executive director of Denton County Friends of the Family, Inc. (1980-1984), a domestic violence shelter and rape crisis program, served as the Board Chair of the Texas Council on Family Violence (1982-87) a statewide coalition of domestic violence programs, and served as President and board member of the Bastrop Family Crisis Center (1989-97). My experiences in the violence against women field sparked my interest in becoming a researcher and teacher. I began conducting research in a university setting in 1990 and have taught graduate and undergraduate courses in program evaluation, non-profit management, social welfare policy, community organizing and advocacy, cultural diversity, and intimate partner violence. I have taught and conducted research at University of Texas at Austin, University of Missouri, University of Texas at Arlington and the College of Staten Island, CUNY. I am currently Associate Professor Emerita at UT Arlington. I have conducted a variety of program, research and evaluation projects many of which were funded by OVC. These include statewide training needs assessments, evaluations of state victim assistance academies, development of a statewide system of care for sexual assault victims, and program evaluations for specific grants. I was the principal investigator of the Victims of Crime: A Social Work Response, Building Skills to Strengthen Survivors project conducted in collaboration with the National Association of Social Workers/Texas and funded through OVC. My research interests include the resiliency of abuse survivors and their adult daughters, developing coordinated community responses to crime victims, the self-efficacy and competence of service providers who serve domestic violence survivors and other crime victims, and collegiate sororities and relationship violence. My most recent projects include evaluating a human trafficking trauma recovery assistance program, designing an evaluation of a technological innovation to secure emergency housing for human trafficking and domestic violence survivors, consulting on an NIJ funded project to research Violence Against Women in the Oil Patch of North Dakota, and exploring the long-term career impact of working in a domestic and sexual violence program. I am co- editor with L. Lockhart of Domestic Violence: Intersectionality and Culturally Competent Practice (Columbia University Press, 2010).

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Campus Sexual Assault, Dating Violence (Teen), Domestic and Family Violence, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Trafficking in Persons

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Rural victims, Adult women

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial, Training and/or technical assistance

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial, Training and/or technical assistance