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. 🇱🇻

Students in my PO 323 Human Trafficking class are organizing the Global Freedom Summit as part of our final class project. In addition to showing the film, my students are developing games and activities to teach people about human trafficking and how to advocate for change in our community.

Perfect day to take a break from grading and try out my new Brooks running shoes for our lovely fall running weather in Central Illinois! 🍁🍂 🎃

#AcWri Saturday finishing up the final edits to our adjudication project! Five years, 326,719 arrests analyzed on the local level and we found elements of trafficking in twice as many cases compared to the Uniform Crime Report. Can't wait to send this out for review! ☕

I feel like I should be happy that my research on gender and politics is extremely relevant in #Latvia right now....but really it just makes me sad! Look for Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in Latvia in 2026 🇱🇻

We ran the Shoreline Classic 5K again this year, our local race sponsored by our Decatur Running Club. We both took 3rd for our age category and my husband who started running 3 years ago keeps getting faster. It was good to see colleagues and former students out on the course!

At the Dmytro Shtohryn International Ukrainian Studies Conference the University of Illinois Library today. Keynote from Emily Channell-Justice “A Drop in the Ocean: Ukraine’s Euromaidan Protests and New Imagined Communities” with some amazing Maidan photos!

Relieved to see the TIP Report for 2025 finally released after bipartisan pressure from Congress and an investigation by the Guardian! Staff at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons were cut by more than 70% so I am thankful to see the 25th edition! www.state.gov/reports/2025...

Went to the Decatur Public Library's Something Weird in Your Neighborhood: An Evening with Troy Taylor tonight at one of Decatur's most haunted places the Lincoln Theater. It was fun to hear about all of the ghost stories from Millikin too featuring Shilling Hall (where my office is located)! 👻

The Human Trafficking Research Lab is participating in the Millikin Makers Market at homecoming. Here is a preview of all of the interesting things we will be selling with the proceeds going to support salaries for my student research assistants! www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org/2025/09/mill...

Future Lawyers Experience at Millikin University today! It was fun to chat with students about political science and the different options for law school. We also had a keynote from Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White who shared her advice on legal careers with prospective students!

Coding data on our adjudication paper again today! I have about 100 cases left in this second round of coding so I am about halfway done.....it has taken us about five years to analyze half a million arrests and I am ready to send this paper out! #HumanTrafficking

Looking forward to presenting our research next week (during a busy homecoming week) at the Dmytro Shtohryn International Ukrainian Studies Conference!

Wild news from Latvia this morning about the #IstanbulConvention! Guess I am going to have to revise the conclusion of my book Gendering the Saeima: The Politics of Women's Representation in Latvia now. The anti-gender movement is definitely alive and well in Latvia! 🇱🇻 eng.lsm.lv/article/poli...

We had the Fall 2025 T.W. Samuels Lecture part of Hispanic Heritage Month tonight at Millikin featuring activist Samantha “Sam” Ramirez-Herrera. Many interesting themes from her talk about borders, adaptation, and the transformative power of good immigration policy.

#AcWri today in my local coffee shop working on our adjudication paper while the hotline paper is with my co-author. Adding new literature and doing a second round of coding to try and get it ready for publication soon. Every little bit of work gets it closer to publication!

Arts in Central Park this weekend in Decatur. Definitely did not feel like fall weather at 85 degrees but it was fun to check out some local art and get ideas for my own art making hobbies. There were also mini donuts 🍩 which are one of my favorite foods!

Thanks to the Freedom Network for their very interesting training on criminal record relief. Many of the students who work in my Human Trafficking Research Lab become lawyers and so I am interested in learning more about how we can do this for survivors in our community!

Getting ready for the Study Abroad Fair at Millikin! I will be there promoting my Politics of Borderlands class to the Baltic States and Finland in Summer 2026! I have Ukrainian candy & will be handing out information on the Fulbright program too. Dreaming of summer travel.....🇱🇻🇱🇹🇪🇪🇫🇮

#AcWri Saturday working on the last edits to our human trafficking hotline article at my local coffee shop. Hoping to send it off to a journal before I get the reviews for my book back at the end of the month.🤞

Getting ready for the Maker's Market at Millikin University for homecoming and I just got my fifth order of awareness raising tote bags! I fundraise all of the money to pay my research assistants and these bags have allowed me to keep paying students after our federal grant was not renewed!

Yoga on the Miller Quad at Millikin University tonight! Nice to relax with some self care after a trying news day with horrible political violence. Also saw like four students from my different classes and they are always surprised to see their professors out in the real world!

Had a full day Mental Health First Aid Training today. I wanted to learn better responses for students in crisis. Traveling in the US & abroad is often stressful so I came away with some coping strategies & will have students make a self care plan for culture shock in the future!

#AcWri Saturday working on our chapter "Human Trafficking and Forced Criminality in Wartime" for an edited volume Crime and Justice in Wartime Ukraine based on our NSF research. Trying to get as much done as I can before the reviews for my book come back at the end of the month! 🇺🇦