Graduate Student Lunch and Learn

Date: October 30, 2025

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Location: Brody Square small dining room.

Topic: Bystander Intervention

You’ll learn about:

barriers to intervention
campus & local resources
gain the confidence to be an active bystander

Registration Required- Contact poe.tonyafountain@msu.edu to register.

Graduate Student Summit on RVSM Prevention, Support and Response

Date: November 14, 2025

Time: 8:00 am-12:00 pm

Location: MSU Library- Green Room

Presentations:

Navigating Harm When Policy Falls Short – Shannon Burton, PhD-Michigan State University Ombudsperson
Not all harm is policy-violating. From boundary-crossing behaviors to advisor grooming, retaliation masked as “rigor,” or persistent discomfort that isn’t easily named—graduate students often experience harm that falls into a gray area. These moments, while sometimes invisible to formal systems, have a real impact on well-being, progress, and professional futures. This session, led by a university ombudsperson, explores the terrain of subtle harm—what it is, how it shows up in academic spaces, and what options exist when policy doesn’t provide a clear path forward. Through case-based examples and facilitated dialogue, participants will reflect on personal agency, systemic limitations, and where informal, confidential resources like the ombuds can help shift isolation into insight, and uncertainty into strategy.
Supporting Survivors-Kimmins Southard and Sarah Ghazal, MSU Center for Survivors
In our Supporting Survivors Workshop, we will introduce the MSU Center for Survivors and review the prevalence of sexual and relationship violence at MSU and in our local community. We will discuss the impacts of trauma, explore common reactions to sexual and relationship violence, and strategies to support survivors and connect them to resources and services to facilitate healing.
Becoming a Good Gatekeeper of Your Own Nervous System, Lisa Laughman LMSW. Spartan Resilience Education
This session will help you recognize the experience of burnout in yourself and/or others. You will discover the importance of “completing your stress cycles” as they occur, to help you avoid future burnout. Participants will also develop basic grounding practices to help you operate from the lowest effective stress response possible as you navigate your daily work/life challenges. Attendees will learn becoming a good gatekeeper of your own nervous system is an essential skill for protecting and enhancing your own mental health and wellbeing while being in service to others.

Registration link : https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe6/preview/previewId/89e86c38-7212-40c9-8671-68cdfb536727/SV_etdRfHEKCoQzYwK?Q_CHL=preview&Q_SurveyVersionID=current

Dr. Tonya R. Fountain

Prevention Education Manager for Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Student Initiatives

Office for Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance

Michigan State University

408 W Circle Dr., Room 101/102

East Lansing, MI 48824

Email: poe.tonyafountain@msu.edu

Direct: 517-353-2474

poe.msu.edu