Michele Papakie, PhD
In
2010, Dr./Lt. Col. Michele Papakie left her full-time job as a journalism
professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for a six-month
deployment to Bagram, Afghanistan. She
assume she would be performing her Equal Opportunity manager role – working out
injustices, mediating relationships, etc.
When she arrived, however, she was assigned to the Army, and her job was
EO program manager AND Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program manager
for Regional Command East. After
expertly and professionally handling at least 25 cases of sexual assault – male
on female, female on male, male on male, female on female – she returned home
to re-assume her civilian responsibilities as a mom, daughter, sister, aunt,
friend, professor, township supervisor, adviser and mentor. She again (incorrectly) assumed she knew
enough about reintegration that she would enjoy a smooth transition from airman
to civilian. She was wrong. During this presentation, Lt. Col Papakie
will share her personal journey of “acknowledging the past and forging the
future.”