{"id":201,"date":"2025-07-31T00:08:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T00:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms-test\/?page_id=201"},"modified":"2025-08-28T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:49:08","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our Vision<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We aspire to be the foremost platform for collating and distributing knowledge, research, and fostering community partnerships to effectively counteract human trafficking and modern slavery on a global scale. Our vision extends beyond academic research; it seeks to influence policy, inspire action, and ignite change.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Our Mission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, we are committed to deepening the understanding of the escalating global challenge of human trafficking and modern slavery. Our approach encompasses comprehensive community engagement, rigorous research, focused education, specialized training, as well as offering student fellowships and survivor scholarships. Our goal is not just to study this complex issue but to actively seek and implement solutions.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Our Guiding Principles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • Tackling all forms of human trafficking with a holistic approach.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Prioritizing the dignity and rights of every individual.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Collaborating with survivors as key partners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Working together with various sectors for a unified response.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Focusing on tangible outcomes and real-world impact.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Utilizing research and data to guide our actions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    How it Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The foundation for the Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery was established by the late John Bersia. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Bersia passionately taught courses, wrote about, and hosted television shows on the topic of human trafficking. He started the first UCF initiative on human trafficking in 2003, which grew to be the Human Trafficking Awareness Program in 2011. When the HTMS Center officially started in February 2018, it was part of UCF\u2019s College of Sciences, and John Bersia served as the interim director and co-chair of the advisory board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other notable advisory board members at the time included the late attorney David W. Boone, founder of Civil Lawyers Against World Sex-Slaver (CLAWS), Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas, a former U.S. Ambassador to Senegal who directed Diplomacy Studies at UCF, Ambassador Luis C. deBaca, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Francis Bok, abolitionist and former Sudanese child slave, Richard Lapchick, chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at UCF, and Dr. Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery and Research Director at The Rights Lab in the University of Nottingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In July of 2018, the HTMS Center won UCF\u2019s Community Challenge Initiative, along with the Florida Prison Education Project, with the proposal Collectively Confronting and Resolving the Injustice of Human Trafficking. This proposal aimed to unite the campus and community partners in the fight against human trafficking. Though the momentum of this contest stopped, the goal of the HTMS Center remained \u2013 \u201cto expand the understanding of human trafficking in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary context, and search for solutions through coursework, research, distinguished speakers, student fellowships, survivor scholarships, partnerships, international professional exchanges, and community engagement.\u201d Unfortunately, with the passing of John Bersia in 2019, the HTMS Center\u2019s goal to fight human trafficking in our communities, in our state, throughout the nation, and worldwide slowed but never stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In 2019, the UCF Rosen College Professional Internships Team organized a Human Trafficking workshop at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, facilitated by United Abolitionists, Inc. The workshop was attended by 200 students and discussed grooming tactics traffickers use to groom people. They also presented characteristics to look for when working in the hospitality and tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the end of the one-hour presentation, United Abolitionists, Inc. expert presenters asked, \u201cNow that you know the signs, have any of you witnessed human trafficking in your workplace\u201d? 30 students raised their hands, reporting possibly witnessing human trafficking in their workplace. In response, UCF Rosen College introduced human trafficking training to educate future leaders in the hospitality and tourism industry. The education was launched in 2020 in the online internship courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Since then, we have expanded our efforts in combating human trafficking by forming strong partnerships<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As of the Fall 2023 semester, the Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, also known as \u201cHTMS,\u201d has been transitioned to the Rosen College of Hospitality Management and is led by the Executive Director, Dr. Jessica Wickey Byrd.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullscreen.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery","_seopress_titles_desc":"The UCF Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery advances education, research, and community action to combat human trafficking.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-201","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - UCF\u2019s Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms\/about-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms\/about-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCF\u2019s Center for the Study of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-28T19:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms\/about-us\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.research.ucf.edu\/htms\/about-us\/\",\"name\":\"About - 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