UK Postdoc Honored by Rape Crisis Center for Advocacy Work

photo of Postel, students and Attorney General Andy Beshear
Emily Bonistall Postel, right, joined students from her Spring 2017 sociology class as Attorney General Andy Beshear presents the video contest winning check April 28, 2017.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 20, 2017) —  University of Kentucky postdoctoral fellow Emily Bonistall Postel will be recognized by the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center (BRCC) as an Advocate for Change during the organization's Halloween Soiree fundraising event tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 21.

Postel is being honored for inspiring her UK sociology class to participate in the Kentucky Attorney General's Voices of Justice video contest during the spring 2017 semester.  The video contest helped promote the state's free and confidential Sexual Assault Hotline.

As it turned out, students in Postel's 400-level class on victimology created the winning video, titled “Stand with us.”  The students voted to donate the $500 first-place prize to BRCC.

According to the anonymous nomination of Postel for the Advocate for Change award, she inspired her students and opened their eyes to the realities of campus assault and made them feel like they could have an impact.  The nominator said they felt empowered by her class.

"It is incredibly humbling to be honored as an Advocate for Change," said Postel, a postdoctoral fellow with the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women. "I’m so proud of my students and grateful to the AG for the opportunity of the contest."

Every year a BRCC committee votes on all nominations and selects three Advocates for Change to be honored at the Halloween Soiree, BRCC's primary fundraiser.  The event begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky, located at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear visited the UK campus last April to congratulate the class on its winning video.  April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. The Office of the Attorney General and the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs created the contest to engage Kentucky college students in raising awareness of campus sexual assault and encouraging crime reporting and active bystander intervention.

The BRCC serves a 17-county area in Central Kentucky, offering a 24-hour resource line, individual and group therapy, education and advocacy.