Newswise — Building on the collaboration of academic and direct-practice human trafficking experts, Wichita State University will soon open the new Center for Combating Human Trafficking (CCHT).

The goal of the center is to equip multidisciplinary students, professionals and agencies/organizations/entities with the knowledge, skills and resources to prevent human trafficking; effectively identify, intervene and evaluate cases of human trafficking; and help human trafficking survivors.

The center will offer specialty courses as well as certifications to enrolled students, as well as citizens and post-graduate professionals. There also will be workshop and training continuing education credits.

CCHT will consult with community, state and federal entities, offering consulting and research/data management resources.

Wichita State assistant professor Karen Countryman-Roswurm, an expert on the subject and founder of the Anti-Trafficking/Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable for Community Action (ASERCA), a collaborative multi-disciplinary team to fight human trafficking coordinated through the Wichita Children's Home, is the founding director of the CCHT.# # # # #

Contact: Keith Pickus, CCHT director of operations 316-978-5061 or [email protected] or Karen Countryman-Roswurm at [email protected].