Happy first day of classes spring semester 2026! Does not feel like spring at all but most of my students said the one thing that they were looking forward to this semester was warmer weather so I am pretty sure their wish will come true!

It was a snowy last #WinterBreak #AcWri at my local coffee shop today! Still working on revisions to chapter six on women's policy agendas in Latvia but hoping to finish it by the time classes start on Tuesday. Sad to be done with break but ready for warmer temps! ☕✍️🇱🇻❄️

#AcWri working on edits to Chapter 6 on women's policy agendas in the Saeima in a fancy coffee shop near the University of Illinois today. Met a friend for lunch and writing. The coffee was great and the big campus coffee shop writing vibe was so much fun! ☕✍️🇱🇻

Had to do my Saturday #WinterBreak #AcWri at home today because my poor dog took a tumble down the stairs and I wanted to keep an eye on her. Ran out quickly to get coffee and one of my students was working so she made Scarlett a pup cup. Definitely brightened her day!

Totally agree with this article, it is time for a woman to lead the UN! A woman from Eastern Europe with unique knowledge of colonialism, regime change, and democracy building and backsliding is definitely an excellent choice! passblue.com/2025/12/09/a...

#AcWri winter break edition! Starting edits and revisions to Chapter 5 on violence against women in politics of my book Gendering the Saeima: the Politics of Women's Representation in Latvia. I read and edit on paper before working on reviewer comments and double checking my translations/sources.

Read about this in my WomenLead substack and it's so interesting to see such a blatant example of how parliamentary spaces were not designed for women.....I analyze women's work in a gender insensitive parliament in my book Gendering the Saeima too! www.bbc.com/news/article...

One of my favorite Latvian authors Nora Ikstena passed away today. I have been fortunate read her work in English and Latvian. I also took my students to see Soviet Milk (Mātes piens) in the theaters during my last Baltic Immersion class. Ļoti skumjas ziņas...Izsaku līdzjūtību. 🇱🇻

Ukrainian police busted a #HumanTrafficking ring that recruited 🇺🇦 women from the front lines in Donetsk oblast for sexual exploitation in Europe. Two women recruiters were arrested in 🇺🇦 and police are formalizing the process for the third suspect in Poland. www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-regio...

Back in Decatur for my #AcWri Saturday working on revisions to Chapter 4 of my book Gendering the Saeima on interruptions in parliamentary debates. With only two weeks left of #WinterBreak I am almost halfway done with these book revisions.....hoping to finish by February!🤞🇱🇻✍️

A few last snowy walks on the lake and in the woods during #WinterBreak before heading home to Illinois. My parents still have their Ukrainian flag out on the lake in Minnesota to show our support! 🇺🇦

January is #HumanTrafficking Prevention Month in the United States. Here are a variety of awareness signs with different messages and hotlines that I found in toilets and rest areas during my #WinterBreak Travels!

Walking with my favs in snowy Northern Wisconsin! Happy holidays, Priecīgus ziemassvētkus, і з Різдвом Христовим усіх! 🎄 ❄️

We just received a revise and resubmit decision on our Adjudication of #HumanTrafficking cases in Central Illinois article! This is the fourth article from Human Trafficking Research Lab published with students and I told them we have to celebrate academic wins like this when they come along! #AcWri

Final grades are submitted and I am officially starting #WinterBreak! Looking forward to ice skating and walking on the lake in Minnesota and seeing the family and friends from college in Wisconsin!

Our panel "Women’s Leadership, Protest, and Representation in Central and Eastern Europe" was accepted to the 2026 European Conference on Politics and Gender! Looking forward to visiting Newcastle this summer to present my chapter on Women’s Work and Parliamentary Effectiveness in the Saeima! 🇱🇻

End of semester updates from the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin with information on our upcoming 9th Annual Panel Discussion for #HumanTrafficking Prevention Month on "Labor Trafficking" in January. Looking forward to another year of research in the lab! humantraffickingresearchlab.org

Doing a little #AcWri in my local coffee shop on a very chilly morning in Central Illinois before all of my final papers come in tomorrow. Working on revisions to Chapter Three of my book on women's work today and hoping to finish them this week before my winter break begins!

It was a very cold 2025 Winter Commencement at Millikin University today! Enjoyed the thoughtful and reflective keynote speech from Angel Lawrence, Executive Director of the Northeast Community Fund. She was an undergraduate political science major and then received her MSW. Congrats graduates! 🎓

Happy Cookie Party Day to all who celebrate.....this is my favorite day of the year at Millikin!

It's pretty cool that my Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin will be featured on a professional development panel "Academic Entrepreneurship: Launching and Leading Centers, Labs, and Institutes" for Women in Legislative Studies @winls.bsky.social with others from Dartmouth and Arizona State!

Went to the 66th Annual Vespers Concert today where the theme was peace and the program was the dove of peace in Ukrainian flag colors. They sang the English version of Carol of Bells with a verse in Ukrainian but I realized I really only know the words to Щедрик in Ukrainian! 🇺🇦

Finishing up revisions to Chapter Two of my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in Latvia today for my #AcWri Saturday! Glad to be writing back in my local coffee shop this weekend since we had a blizzard last weekend and I didn't make it out of the house. ☕ 🎄🇱🇻

Up early for our panel discussion today on "Transnational dimensions of human trafficking in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine" as part of the Conference on Global Organized Crime. #OC24 🇺🇦 oc24.heysummit.com?sc=KPxEAvqp

Today is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery and #GivingTuesday! I fundraise all of my students' salaries in the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin University through grants and donations. You can support our research here 👇 www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org/2023/10/htrl...

Last day of #AcWriMo and I finished half of my goals this month. I met some of my 3rd goal and finished the revisions to the introduction and Chapter One of my book Gendering the Saeima. We have been snowed in so sadly no coffee pics this weekend but my dog Scarlett doesn't seem to mind! 📚

Might have gone a little overboard with my Ukrainian chocolate reward for finishing our article as part of #AcWriMo. Made a quick trip out to the Ukrainian Village in Chicago during our free afternoon for Model UN and also got varenyky and medovik for dinner from the deli! 🇺🇦

Completed a few #AcWriMo revisions to my book manuscript Gendering the Saeima while traveling with students for Model UN. I had a lot of fires to put out this trip but I am almost done revising the introduction. Every bit of progress is one step closer to getting this book published! 🇱🇻

We spent our free afternoon visiting the Japan Information Center at the Consulate-General of Japan in Chicago. We were able to meet Consul and Director Mr. Yuya Murata to learn about Japanese foreign policy. It was a great culmination to our representation of Japan in Model UN! 🇯🇵

The odds were in our favor at the American Model United Nations Conference lottery today! We were picked 7th and will be representing Latvia next year! In my more than 20 years of Model UN I have never represented my favorite country and it's going to be so much fun to teach their foreign policy! 🇱🇻

Pro tip: always carry a sharpie with you since you never know when there is going to be an impromptu protest against Russian Imperialism nearby. I took a break from the Model UN conference and attended a "Ukraine is Not for Sale" protest with a few students today. 🇺🇦

Our Millikin University delegation is present and voting at the 2025 American Model United Nations Conference in Chicago! We are representing Japan and spent all semester learning about Japan's foreign policy and practicing parliamentary procedure. Looking forward to the next four days!

As an American who has lived in Ukraine I am ashamed that my country would turn our back on a reliable ally and hold our help hostage like this. My apologies to every Ukrainian who has endured years of war. Please know many Americans are deeply embarrassed and disagree with this "peace" proposal. 🇺🇦

Next on my #AcWriMo goals list are the revisions to my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in #Latvia. The reviews came back a few weeks ago and they were mostly favorable so now I get to start the long revision process on Latvian independence day! 🇱🇻

More updates to the #HumanTrafficking Research Lab blog including a new policy brief with the main findings from our adjudication research (5 years in the making) and information on the statewide human trafficking task force meeting. Check out our work👇 www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1

Sent our hotline article out for review and got to check another item off my #AcWriMo 2025 writing goals list today! I am heading to Model UN in Chicago this weekend so I will be able to visit the Ukrainian Village for my Ukrainian chocolate reward. 🇺🇦 🍫✍️

Final tweaks to the figures for our human trafficking hotlines in war article today, one of my #AcWriMo goals. My local coffee shop is already decorated for the holidays even though it was like 70 degrees yesterday and does not feel like the holiday season! ☕ 🌲 ✍️

Attended an Illinois #HumanTrafficking Task Force meeting yesterday. Social service providers reported a decrease in foreign born forced labor survivors/victims coming forward because they are afraid to seek help due to immigration enforcement. Many orgs now have to offer online services!

Updates to the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog with posts about Shared Hope International's A ranking for Illinois, our A21 Global Freedom Summit class project, and media appearance on WCIA News! It's been a busy few weeks in the lab.... www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org?m=1

Different #AcWriMo Saturday view this week from the University Commons at Millikin University! We had a visit day on campus today so I was there bright and early and took a break between sessions to work on a few blog posts for the Human Trafficking Research Lab blog!

My interview with WCIA News on Illinois' 2nd place ranking for human trafficking policy. I was proud to be part of the Joint Human Trafficking Working group that developed law and it's cool to be interviewed along with the Illinois State Police Director. www.wcia.com/news/illinoi...

Mans protests ar Linkolnu Dekatūrā Ilinoisā ASV. Es atbalstu sievietes Latvijā.

#AcWriMo updates! Sent my Forced Criminality Chapter off to the editors yesterday, part of an edited volume Crime and Justice in Wartime Ukraine under contract with Routledge. Now I can check it off my to do list and get my Latvian chocolate reward from the Baltic Shop!

WCIA News was in the Human Trafficking Research Lab today interviewing us about the adoption of the Illinois Statewide Trauma Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act. The adoption of this Act moved Illinois from an F to an A with the 2nd best #HumanTrafficking policy in the US!

Thanks to our student newspaper The Decaturian for hyping our Global Freedom Summit at Millikin University tomorrow. Come and check out all of the work my PO 323 Human Trafficking students have been doing this semester on our class project! decaturian.com/news/2025/11...

Making more than 20 Latvian pankūkas for my Baltic Immersion 2026 Information Session tonight! We are set to travel to the Baltic States and Finland for 20 days backpacking and learning about the region in May and June 2026. 🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹🇫🇮

Had a lovely evening at the Nutcracker: Magical Christmas Ballet. I enjoyed picking out all of the Ukrainian dancers in the group and Ukrainian motifs with my Ukrainian friend. We also learned that the principal dancer was from the "Ukrainian ballet capital of Kharkiv!" 🇺🇦

#AcWriMo starts today & here are my writing goals and rewards for 2025. It was fun to look back & see all of the writing I have accomplished since 2022 when I started participating. Over the years I usually check 2-3 items off my list & chocolate is almost always my reward. 🍫 Happy writing everyone!

The most gender equal Saeima in the history of #Latvia with 36% women's representation voted to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. This reaffirms a key finding from my book Gendering the Saeima 🇱🇻

With the rhetoric surrounding the #IstanbulConvention I wanted to share some of the findings from my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in #Latvia. I interviewed women MPs in the 12th & 13th Saeimas and asked them if they had experienced violence. 🇱🇻