A new research facility is being built on campus to help victims of domestic and sexual violence.

The Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Abuse will be located on the east campus near the Psychology-Computer Science building. Professor Joel Milner says the facility will be part of a large research park, complete with residence halls and many other buildings dedicated to research.

Milner added that it will take many years to complete the proposed research park, but construction on the center is expected to begin within the next couple of weeks.

Jim Bryant, project director of Architectural and Engineering Services, thinks mother nature may play a part in how quickly the center is built.

The $2.7 million building should be up by next summer and is being funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Lack of space for research and storage for important documents prompted the university to build the center.

“There physically just isn’t space,” Milner said. “We’ll do more when we have the building.”

Milner has played an integral role in the center’s development from the beginning. Not only is he helping to design the building, but he is also trying to raise money to support the center.

It will include, among many other features, research suites, offices, a playroom for children and a small auditorium. Living quarters, including a kitchen, also are being considered to accommodate visiting scholars here to research at the center.

It’s important to stress that the center is strictly a research facility and not a clinic to help the public or NIU students, Milner said. It will be used in training for graduate students and to

sponsor undergraduates in their own research projects.

Milner expects to see researchers from all over the world come through the new facility. He credits NIU’s impressive research reputation for the interest coming from the academic world.

According to a brochure from Psychological Reports, NIU ranked fourth in the nation for producing the most research articles published from 1990 to 1996 concerning child abuse, neglect and family violence. Also, NIU ranks 13th in the publication of child abuse, neglect, family violence and sexual abuse research and first in the amount of research done.

The same faculty and staff that currently work in the psychology department will work at the center.

All members of the staff hold doctoral degrees in various fields including sociology, clinical and social psychology, child development, psychopathology, psychophysiology, neuropsychology, law and public policy. Within the last five years, the same faculty has produced more than 100 publications on issues involving family violence and sexual assault.

Research concerning drug and alcohol use, dating aggression, elder abuse, at-risk children, homophobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, rape and sexual harassment is already in the works on campus and will continue at the new facility.

Milner and other faculty and staff members are anxious for construction to start on the center.

“It’s because of them [abuse victims],” Milner said, “and we damn well better do a good job.”