Salem State University Professor Named to American Association for the Advancement of Science Steering Committee

– Salem State University’s Yvonne Vissing, professor of healthcare studies and director of the Salem State University Center for Childhood and Youth Studies, has been appointed the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) steering committee. Vissing will focus on embedding human rights training throughout higher education’s infrastructure and curriculum.

“Higher education is responsible for turning out the next generation of professionals, and it's important for people in every field to know what human rights are and how to act in rights-respectful ways. Every field, from mathematics to technology to the social sciences, have human rights issues and it impacts each field from the way we hire faculty and admit students, to what we teach and how we interact,” Vissing said.

Vissing, who developed the Center for Childhood and Youth Studies and created the Institute for Homeless Studies at Salem State, has been recognized as a leading voice in the child rights community on a national and international level. She was awarded Sociologist of the Year by the New England Sociological Association in 2008. Among other accomplishments, Vissing was also a gubernatorial appointment to the New Hampshire Juvenile Parole Board, as well as a board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington DC. 

Vissing was also asked to be a speaker at the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and appointed to be the U.S. Child Rights Policy Chair. Vissing and Dr. Jane Williams, director of Swansea University’s Observatory for Children’s Rights, are working together with Massachusetts Senator Joan Lovely to create a Youth Commission at the state level, as well as a variety of other bills that support children’s access to housing, health, and wellbeing.