On Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at Ashland University in the Alumni Room in the John C. Myers Convocation Center, the Symposium Against Indifference event series will kick off with speaker Dr. Jillian Peterson. 

Dr. Peterson’s lecture is titled, “The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic,” which is the title of the book she co-authored and is highly acclaimed. 

In the lecture, she will discuss data-driven solutions she has found at an individual level to stop the social contagion of violence in our communities and our country. 

Dr. Peterson is an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University, and previously, an investigator on death penalty cases in New York City. 

She is also the co-founder and co-president of The Violence Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center dedicated to reducing violence using research and analysis. 

Dr. Peterson’s areas of expertise include mass shootings, violent crime, holistic violence prevention, crisis intervention and de-escalation and promoting mental wellness in schools and workplaces. 

The event is co-sponsored by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence and the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County.