The award is devoted to a nonlawyer citizen who has given time and energy to strengthen the American system of justice, and Rosen is the first person to win this award from MSU Safe Place.

“Rosen is a licensed master’s-level social worker with over 30 years of working in the field of domestic violence,” MSU Safe Place Volunteer and Advocacy Coordinator Alyssa Baumann said in an email. “She has served as the director of MSU Safe Place since its inception in 1994, (and) prior to that, she worked for 13 years at End Violent Encounters in Lansing.”

Aside from being the director of MSU Safe Place, Rosen also is very active in the Capital Area Domestic and Sexual Violence Coordinating Council, as well as the Campus Violence Free Communities, and she sits on the board of directors for the Batterer Intervention Coalition of Michigan.

“(I received this award because) I have been a victim’s advocate for battered women for the past 30 years,” Rosen said. “(I have helped) survivors understand and navigate through the legal system … provided expert witness testimony in Michigan for the past 10 years … and helped train new prosecuting attorneys across the state to … prosecute these types of cases.”

All of the groups that Rosen is involved in are heavily focused on changing systems so safety is maintained for victims of domestic violence and assailants are held accountable.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for the work I have done with the courts over the years,” Rosen said.

Rosen also has been used as an expert witness by prosecutors across the state with a focus on explaining domestic violence and sexual assault perpetrator tactics and victim response.

“Expert witnesses can really dictate how a jury looks at the subject,” political science and pre-law senior Nikolai Wasielewski said. “So to have someone that knowledgeable can really help persuade the jury.”