User:Yvissing/sandbox

Yvonne Vissing, PhD, is a sociologist and children's human rights expert. Born in Jeffersonville, Indiana to Richard Vissing and Edna Bruner Vissing, her father became mayor of the city for 20 years during the Civil Rights movement, which was fundamental to her foundation in support of social justice. She earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington, where she also got minors in Psychology and Religion. She attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo where she earned her master's degree and doctorate in Sociology with cognates in social work policy, alternative medicine, research, and social problems and graduated from its SPADA (substance abuse prevention and drug addiction) program. Attending the Equitas International training program in human rights in Montreal, she is appointed as the US policy chair for the Hope for Children CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child Policy Center) in Cyprus, a group of international human rights scholars. She has been a National Institute of Mental Health Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Whiting Foundation Fellow, Deliberation, Dialogue, and Democracy Fellow at the Dodd Human Rights Center at the University of Connecticut. She has received additional training from the Op-Ed Project and the National Publicity Summit.

She was a prevention specialist at River Region Mental Health Services in Louisville, Kentucky, a counselor at the South Louisville Drug Abuse Center, a visiting professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Department of Pediatrics, tenured professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, and NIMH Fellow at the Family Violence Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire. She is a tenured professor at Salem State University in Massachusetts where she founded its Center for Childhood & Youth Studies and co-founded its Department of Healthcare Studies.

Vissing is on the Human Rights Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, a member of the consultant corps for the American Sociological Association, on the Steering Committee of Human Rights Educators USA, a former member of the National Coalition for the Homeless, a former New Hampshire Juvenile Parole Board Member, a Guardian ad Litem in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She founded Training 4 Excellence, an organizational training consultant and website. She works with a variety of human rights organizations around the world and regularly gives presentations, workshops, trainings, and consultations in the area of children's human rights. She is a certified Clinical Sociologist and a member of two boards of the International Sociological Association.

She has won awards from the American Sociological Association, Eastern Sociological Association, and her film on homeless children won the First and Finest in Film from New Hampshire and was the film showcased at the Ben and Jerry's One Heart Festival in Vermont.

Publications

Author of over 20 books and countless chapters, articles, reports, publications, and presentations, with more forthcoming. They include Children's Human Rights in the USA: Challenges and Opportunities (Springer 2023), Child Welfare in America (ABC/CLIO Press 2024), Global Human Rights (Bloomsbury 2025), Changing the Paradigm of Homelessness (Routledge 2022), Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless children and families in America (University of Kentucky Press), Women Without Children: Nurturing Lives (Rutgers University Press), How To Keep Your Children Safe: A Guide for Parents (University Press of New England), Going Gluten Free (Nor'Lights Press), Community Structures and Processes on Lives of Refugee Children (Vernon Press), Finding Information About Children (Nova Science), Discourses of Globalisation, Ideology, and Human Rights (Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 28: Springer), Globalisation, Cultural Diversity and Human Rights (Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 44 Springer), Discourses of Globalisation, Human Rights and Sports (Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 38 Springer), Globalisation, Ideology and Social Justice Discourses (Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 30, Springer), The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors: Perspectives and Case Studies on Migrant Children (Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice, Springer), Globalisation, Human Rights, Sports, and Culture (Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 37, Springer), and An Introduction to Sociology (Bridgepoint Education).

She is a Santaologist, and has written a 5 book series about Santa Claus. These include The Santa Spirit, The ABCs of the Santa Spirit for Adults, The Legacy of the Santa Stocking, A Santa Spirit Advent Calendar Book, and Re-Imagine Santa: The Definitive Guide to Santa Claus.

She coined the concept of Mother Muckers and owns the copyright to it. The blog and book are forthcoming.

You can find more of her work on Research Gate, Medium, and Public Seminar.