Anti-trafficking project earns Sierra Huffman DEIJB Award
April 16, 2024
Sierra Huffman, a senior criminal justice student at IU Columbus, was honored with the inaugural Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, Belonging Award (DEIJB) from the Office of Student Research during a presentation on April 16.
Huffman is a passionate advocate for human trafficking survivors. Throughout the school year, she’s been working on a project focused on fundraising for a mobile unit for Josephine’s Clinic, an organization that helps trafficking survivors in Cincinnati—which is also where Huffman completed her internship in the fall.
Her project not only exceeded its original goal of raising $1,000, Huffman also collected in-kind donations for the clinic. In addition, with support from the OSR, Huffman was able to make connections and network with multiple members of law enforcement who work with trafficking survivors. In fact, she even helped bring an expert panel to campus to share anti-trafficking insights and prevention tips with the AirPark campus.
Huffman said the DEIJB award means a lot to her, both because it shows her hard work is paying off, and because in human trafficking you’re working closely with issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging.
This year marks the introduction of the OSR DEIJB Award. Four of the OSR student researchers presented brief presentations on how their project furthered the IU Columbus core values of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging. A panel of IU Columbus faculty and staff chose the winner.
“Sierra is such a passionate advocate for vulnerable individuals, and her project is so thoughtful, inspiring and well executed that it’s an honor to present this award to her,” said Chancellor's Professor Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, Ph.D., who has been leading the IU Columbus OSR since its inception.
Huffman will graduate in May and plans to study trauma-informed care in a master’s program with hopes of ultimately working for the FBI or CIA in an anti-trafficking or victim-advocacy role.
