Overview
- The Brandeis School of Law, which announced the initiative Thursday, will create the Mary Byron Center and a Mary Byron Endowed Chair focused on preventing intimate partner violence.
- UofL plans to recruit for the endowed chair in fall 2026, with the hire expected to start in fall 2027, and the center set to open after the position is filled.
- The center will expand services for survivors through the Ackerson Law Clinic and coordinate with programs in social work, medicine, business, education, dentistry, languages, and UofL Health.
- Equifax backed the effort and linked it to VINE, the custody-status alert system created after Mary Byron’s 1993 killing that now operates in more than 45 states and sent about 21.5 million notifications in 2025.
- The Mary Byron Project selected UofL to institutionalize its mission, and organizers plan an annual conference to share the model and help other universities build similar training and services.