The Office of Equity and Title IX Welcomes Teresa Mejia

To: The Campus Community
From: Hima Vatti, Assistant Vice President, Equity & Title IX Coordinator
Date: March 2, 2020
Re: The Office of Equity and Title IX Welcomes Teresa Mejia

The Office of Equity and Title IX welcomes to the Caltech community Teresa Mejia, a sexual assault counselor who is joining the office Monday, March 2. Mejia's position has been created as part of an ongoing effort to expand services that support the health and welfare of our students, staff, and faculty. She will be responsible for providing confidential support, advocacy, and crisis response services to members of our campus community impacted by sexual and intimate partner violence.

The addition of this position was made possible by a partnership between the Office of Equity and Title IX and local violence prevention center Peace Over Violence; together we procured a grant through the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. The grant also funds after-hours crisis response for the Caltech community through Peace Over Violence's network of advocates, which includes Mejia. In addition to expanding Caltech's ability to respond to and care for campus survivors of sexual violence, the grant provides funding to enhance current prevention and outreach efforts, including the part-time services of a Prevention Coordinator who will conduct outreach efforts with a specific focus on men's engagement.

The effort to procure this grant was spearheaded by Deputy Title IX Coordinator Allie McIntosh and assisted by the Institute's senior administration, including President Tom Rosenbaum, Provost Dave Tirrell, Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Shepherd, Associate Vice President for Human Resources Julia McCallin, and David Mayo, director of the Office of Sponsored Research. The grant is renewable annually for four additional years.

We are eager to welcome Mejia and integrate her into the network of confidential counseling resources supporting the Caltech campus community. Mejia has served the Los Angeles community for over five years in the areas of trauma-informed crisis response, sexual and domestic violence advocacy, survivor accompaniment, case management, counseling, and access to public assistance. As a domestic violence specialist at the Family Justice Center, she has also gained significant experience in working with survivors and law enforcement to address issues of intimate partner and domestic violence. Mejia is fluent in Spanish, which will help ensure that access to her services is as broadly available as possible.

Mejia is excited to meet and serve the students, staff, and faculty of the campus community. Her office will be located at 211 Central Engineering Services, Building 85, Holliston Avenue, and she can be contacted by calling (626) 395-4770. In the coming weeks, Mejia will post information on the Title IX website about opportunities to meet her and details regarding the services she will provide.