State Grant to Assist UTEP Student Crime Victims
Last Updated on November 08, 2017 at 12:00 AM
Originally published November 08, 2017
By UC Staff
UTEP Communications
The Texas Office of the Governor – Criminal Justice Division awarded a one-year $364,183 grant to The University of Texas at El Paso for the Miners Assistance Pilot for Survivors (MAPS) program.
This program is a component of the state’s Victim Assistance College Campus initiative, a comprehensive and coordinated inter-departmental effort to support and serve UTEP students who are crime victims. The goal is to enhance and expand the services and assistance provided directly to crime victims to accelerate their recovery and help them through the criminal justice system.
The grant’s co-principal investigators are University Police Chief Cliff Walsh and Sandy Vasquez, assistant vice president for equal opportunity and compliance services.
Walsh said MAPS will involve offers of additional student counseling and awareness information. He also stressed that students may receive assistance anonymously if they choose. The chief said that he and Vasquez will work in collaboration with Charlie Gibbens, Ed.D., interim assistant vice president for student support, to initiate these programs.
“Our goal is to promote our students’ sense of well-being and their quality of life in a holistic way that promotes their academic success and, ultimately, success in life,” Walsh said.