Sharyn Potter

Sharyn J. Potter, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of in the Department of Women and Gender Studies and the Co-founder and Executive Director of Research at the Prevention Innovations Research Center: Ending Sexual and Relationship Violence and Stalking at the University of New Hampshire. She is also the Co-founder and Vice-President of Research of Soteria Solutions. Professor Potter is a global leader on the social scientific development and evaluation of bystander intervention strategies. Dr. Potter’s work focuses on engaging community members to work collaboratively to reduce sexual and relationship violence, stalking and harassment in high schools, colleges and universities, the United States Military and other work places. She has been a leader in the development, dissemination and evaluation and of theory- and research-based bystander intervention prevention strategies including the uSafeUS® mobile app, the Know Your Power® Bystander Social Marketing Campaign, and a bystander video game that models pro-social bystander behaviors, all of which have been shown to be effective with both campus and military audiences. Dr. Potter and her colleagues adapted both the Bringing in the Bystander® In-Person Prevention Program and the Know Your Power® Bystander Social Marketing Campaign for two US Army Posts in Europe (USAREUR). These two pilot studies represent a very small pool of studies specifically focused on sexual violence prevention in the US Military. She also led a study for the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault to examine sexual misconduct policy delivery methods. In addition, Dr. Potter is a national expert on designing and administering sexual violence prevalence studies. Her recent TEDx talk describes the individual and societal economic and human capital losses attributed to sexual violence. Dr. Potter’s work has been groundbreaking in her effort to partner with organizations as they strategize and implement cultural change that impacts all organizational levels. Her work has been cited in international and national news media including the Guardian, New York Times, National Public Radio, Vox, Teen Vogue and Chronicle of Higher Education.