Celebrating Emerging Writers - Methodist University

Office of University Relations
5400 Ramsey Street • Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311-1498
(800) 488-7110 • (910) 630-7114 • FAX (910) 630-7253
www.methodist.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 11, 2011
MARIA SIKORYAK-ROBINS
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS
MU HOSTS SCREENING OF “PLAYGROUND”
FAYETTEVILLE, NC—Methodist University will host a screening of the documentary
“Playground: Child Sex Trafficking in America,” presented by the Department of Sociology and the
Department of Social Work at Methodist University.
The screening, which is free of charge and open to the public, will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the
Medical Lecture Hall April 8, 2011. The documentary will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic
of domestic child sex trafficking. The panel will feature three experts: Sharon W. Cooper, Elzbieta
Gozdziak, and Charity Magnuson.
Sharon W. Cooper, M.D., F.A.A.P., is a forensic pediatrician and board member of the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children. As a pediatrician for more than 30 years, she is the lead
author of a comprehensive text on child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children. She
serves on the faculty of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School Of Medicine.
Elzbieta M. Gozdziak, Ph.D., is the director of research at the Institute for the Study of
International Migration at Georgetown University. She has published several articles about human
trafficking and child victims of trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation, including a special issue of
International Migration on Improving Data and Research on Human Trafficking.
Charity Magnuson is the director of NC Stop Human Trafficking. She is a published author who
has written about human rights and development at Harvard University, and about human trafficking
issues in North Carolina.
Methodist University is an independent four-year institution of higher education with over 2,400
students from 41 states and 44 countries. Methodist University offers over 70 majors and concentrations,
three master’s degree programs, and 19 NCAA III intercollegiate sports. For more information, please
contact Vida Bajc, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology, at (910) 630-7089 or send an e-mail to
vbajc@methodist.edu.
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