StopHazing Announces New Staff Member: Hazing Database and Outreach Coordinator
November 2023 | Orono, Maine | StopHazing announces a new staff member, Megan DeShon-Runge, as the Hazing Database and Outreach Coordinator.
Megan DeShon-Runge (she/her/hers) joins the StopHazing team in the role of Hazing Database & Outreach Coordinator. Megan steps into this role with 10+ years of combined experience in higher education including work with fraternity and sorority life, residence life, and with student organizations and teams. More recently, her experience with prevention and public health initiatives support the transition to this role.
“We are delighted to welcome Megan to the StopHazing team. Her depth of experience in campus life, along with her strong commitment to hazing prevention, make her ideally suited for this new pathbreaking role” noted Dr. Allan, Principal at StopHazing.
In her role, Megan will contribute to the mission of StopHazing and support the development, sustainability, and communication of HazingInfo.org, a database dedicated to creating transparency about college hazing incidents. This role and StopHazing’s partnership in the development of HazingInfo.org is supported by the Samuel Martinez Hazing Prevention Fund, established at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development by Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez, loving parents of Sam Martinez who was killed in a fraternity hazing in 2019.
HazingInfo.org is the first database of its kind, with the goal of shining a light on hazing incidents and a culture of harmful behavior so students and families can make informed decisions about joining or participating in groups, and develop a culture of transparency. StopHazing’s involvement in the database development is in partnership with the University of Washington Information-School, the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development, with guidance and oversight from Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez, and consultation with other scholars, experts and violence prevention advocates.
Megan received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Missouri – Columbia and has started coursework for a Master’s in Public Health. Her campus experiences, dedication to prevention and culture shifts, and passion for this work are an invaluable add to StopHazing’s research-to-practice model. This next phase of Megan’s career provides a pathway to apply years of practitioner experience to a project geared to shining a light on hazing incidents, educating about hazing and its prevention, and engaging with stakeholders across the country to prevent hazing.
“It is an incredible honor to join Dr. Allan and the StopHazing team in the pursuit of making student experiences across the country safer. This innovative project to provide transparency about hazing incidents and education to all is a passion of mine and I look forward to getting started,” said Megan about her new role.
The StopHazing team continues to expand its staff and capacity to meet the growing demand for research-based programs and support for hazing prevention grounded in data and principles of prevention science. The team, led by Dr. Elizabeth Allan, Principal of StopHazing, also includes Meredith Stewart, M.Ed., Operations Manager, Dave Kerschner, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Fellow for Research and Evaluation, Jenny Desmond, M.A., Program & Training Specialist, Devin Franklin, M.Ed., Doctoral Research Fellow, and Angela Ging, M.Ed., Training Specialist & Research Assistant. Additional significant contributions are made possible by StopHazing’s graduate and undergraduate Hazing Prevention Research-to-Practice and Higher Ed Policy Interns.
With the additional capacity provided by Megan, StopHazing will continue to be leaders in producing rigorous research about hazing and its prevention, lead the Hazing Prevention Consortium – the only 3-year research-driven initiative for comprehensive campus-wide hazing prevention – refine resources, and continue to develop trainings and materials for the StopHazing Hazing Prevention Portal, home of StandUp to Hazing™, the newest and only research-based online course for campus-wide hazing prevention and the development of healthy groups and teams.
Interested in learning more and connecting with the StopHazing team? Send us an email.
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