Illinois Sociological Association's Annual Conference

I was recently asked by Dr. Dean to present research from the Human Trafficking Research Lab at the Illinois Sociological Association's annual conference held at Millikin University. This was my first time presenting research, and the experience came with challenges. There were things that were challenging about the presentation and things I enjoyed. I anticipate learning from this experience and finding ways to grow in my academic and professional development. At the end of my presentation, someone asked me what the most difficult and most rewarding parts of my lab research have been. I mentioned that sorting through over 40,000 arrest records certainly cannot be seen as glorious but has made me realize all of the effort that individuals engage in behind the scenes to fight human trafficking. It gave me an appreciation of those people. The benefit of doing this research is that I have gained a great deal of experience and have had the opportunity to learn from a professor who has been studying trafficking for over 20 years. I look forward to continuing connecting with the fight against trafficking, even after I graduate Millikin and hope to build strong, lasting community connections.

​Diana Terneus


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