University of Nebraska-Lincoln bullying expert Susan Swearer returns to Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11 for a White House event highlighting efforts to combat bullying.
The visit, which will take place in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, will be her second White House event during the Obama administration. Swearer, Willa Cather associate professor of school psychology and co-director of the national Bullying Research Network, presented at the White House in 2011 for a conference on bullying prevention.
On Aug. 11, Swearer is among guests invited by the White House Office of Public Engagement for the White House Bullying Prevention Briefing, which kicks off the Aug. 12 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention Summit.
The briefing will bring together educators, experts, technologists and community leaders, according to Swearer’s invitation to participate. Muslim, disabled and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities will be represented. Discussion topics will include youth homelessness, disability rights, social and emotional learning, and adolescent mental health, as well as cyberbullying prevention.
“The focus of this briefing and of the summit is bullying prevention and intervention through promoting tolerance and inclusion,” Swearer said. “We’ll talk about our Born Brave Research study with the Born This Way Foundation to an audience of political leaders, nonprofit organizations, media and other groups dedicated to stopping bullying.”
The 2013 study was conducted in cooperation with the Born This Way Foundation, the anti-bullying organization founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta. The mixed methods research study, now in its third year of data collection, uses a web-based community and Born This Way Foundation events, including the Born Brave Bus, to gather data about factors needed to create a kinder and braver world. To date, more than 10,000 participants around the world have completed the Born Brave Experiences survey.
