Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast intern, Nadia Sosa, as the two discuss Dr. Sandie Morgan’s new award.

Dr. Sandie Morgan

Dr. Sandie Morgan is recognized globally for her expertise on combating human trafficking and working to end violence against women. She is the director of the Global Center for Women and Justice at Vanguard University in Southern California.

She is passionate about the role of education in fighting human trafficking. She launched a 12-unit Anti-Human Trafficking Certificate that is totally online.

She believes everyone can do something. But first, they need to study the issue.  Then they can be a voice and make a difference.

Key Points

• As an educator, it’s important to ask questions and incorporate student voices in important conversation to better equip them to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference.


• A global context, the intersection of different dimensions across society, is essential when addressing issues in education.


• When a community is safer for women and girls, the rest of that community is safer and bettered.


• It is Dr. Morgan’s goal as an educator, that students learn principles of human dignity, to grow communities where exploitation and human trafficking cannot exist.


• The theme of women supporting women is important for the next generation of girls, as the nominees, finalists, and awardees of this year’s Orange County Inspirational Women awards aim to build a future that will support and inspire the next generation of women.

Resources

• 2024 Orange County Inspirational Women: Forum & Leadership Awards


• Sweat and Toil 


• Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice

Transcript

Nadia Sosa 0:14

Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast. This is Episode #318. I’m Nadia Sosa. I’m the podcast intern and I major in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, and a minor in Journalism.

Sandra Morgan 0:28

My name is Dr. Sandie Morgan and I’m the director of Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice. And it’s so exciting to have my intern being the interviewer today so thank you, Nadia.

Nadia Sosa 0:46

Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Today, we’re going to be talking about Dr. Morgan’s new award, the 2024 Orange County Inspirational Women Forum and Leadership Awards for Education and Government. So to start off, Dr. Morgan, I just wanted to ask you, what has been your reaction to winning this award and how do you think that it’s recently affected the way that you interact in the sphere of education?

Sandra Morgan 1:12

First of all, I was delighted that there was a category for Women of Inspiration in Education and Government. I sometimes feel like I’m so behind the scenes and my job, my passion, I feel compelled, is to equip the next generation in combating human trafficking and reducing violence against women. So I was delighted to hear that this was a focus. The day of the lunch I showed up, because I always show up to be a voice and to represent what we do at the Global Center, and to represent the issues that women and girls face. So when they actually called my name, I was stunned. I stopped and then I went into, “Oh, I need to go up there and say something to represent the women and the girls that I work on behalf of.”

Nadia Sosa 2:25

That’s wonderful to hear that they’re always on the forefront of your mind and that’s who you’re always keeping in mind and taking into consideration even when you’ve won such a big award. That’s wonderful to hear, especially as a student knowing that someone who has educated me really cares about what you’re doing. And then just piggybacking off of that, how do you think that being an educator helped you with your work in other spheres, like your work in the anti-human trafficking movement and in faith based organizations?

Sandra Morgan 2:54

I believe that being an educator gives me two advantages. First of all, it’s my job to ask questions. It’s my job to research and to look for, not just data, but what does that data represent? How can I make an impact to change trends that marginalize women, change trends of violence against girls and women? And so that job of research equips me to ask questions, and when you ask questions, people are very willing to give you their opinions. They may not always be right, but they will give you their opinions and you can begin to put together a better understanding in the context of the community and the culture. Then my second reason is because when students are part of the conversation and they learn to practice curiosity, and not jump to conclusions, not read the latest meme on Instagram and go from there, but really to study the issues, it’s what we talk about in this podcast. Study the issues so that you can be a voice and make a difference.

Nadia Sosa 4:26

Do you think that all of the different realms of your career intersect at all? And if so, how has that helped you to be a better educator and a better role model, spokesperson in the movement, as well as in the classroom and in the church?

Sandra Morgan 4:43

I think part of my gift to my students is my experience and you don’t get the kind of experience I have without having, let’s say passed a lot of birthdays. So I’ve been a nurse, I ran an operating room, I was a pediatric night charge nurse, so I have those experiences. I’ve literally been an editor for a Greek language magazine, I’ve had the opportunity to work in the public sector as a task force administrator, all of this before becoming the director of the Global Center for Women and Justice. When addressing issues around education, in the context of a center like this where our more formal mission is, “Research, Education, Advocacy, and Collaboration to Build Hope,” to do that requires a context that is more global. And by global I don’t mean the whole world, I mean global in the intersection in different dimensions across our society. With the experiences working in healthcare, then I have the opportunity to draw from that expertise, experience, and my network of other health care providers. Having worked in the faith community, that spirituality is an aspect in aftercare for victims over and over, I see that, and I’m able to bring that as well. And then, of course, I love teaching, it’s been my passion my whole life, and asking student questions, and helping guide them along their journey of discovery. I don’t really like multiple choice tests. I don’t like just verbatim answers. I want to give you a case study, I want to give you a scenario, and I want you to figure it out. Because honestly, you and your generation, Nadia, you’re the ones who are going to take us across the line to end human trafficking.

Nadia Sosa 7:22

That’s great, and it’s great to have seen that in the classroom from you. It’s great to have been in the classroom and instead of being given a multiple choice test, I was given these very important questions that prompted me to think about how I play a role in this world and how I play a role in the movement, and it’s just great to have seen that. And I know you were talking about how you started off as a nurse and that’s kind of how you were introduced to the whole world of human trafficking and ending it, but at what point did you realize that you were being called to be an educator? At what point did you know that that was your passion, that’s what you really wanted to do, among all the other things that you do and all the other things that you have succeeded in, when did you know that you wanted to be an educator and it was your life’s calling?

Sandra Morgan 8:07

Oh my goodness, no one’s ever asked me that before. If you talked to my family, they would probably say something about how I would set school up at home. That was one of my ideas of playing.

Nadia Sosa 8:27

Instead of playing house, you played school.

Sandra Morgan 8:30

I played school. I was never very good at sports. I have issues with one of my eyes, that means I don’t have depth perception. So nobody ever picked me first for softball team because I can’t catch the ball. I studied piano because my mom wanted me to be a pianist, and my hands never got big enough to do an octave. Then my piano career ended at level five at the College of Music in London, I studied under a British piano teacher. So I often felt like I wasn’t very good at anything. But when I became an operating room nurse, I had an experience that changed my life. I was scrubbed in on a case where it was esophageal cancer. The patient was 43 years old, he had three children, and I was with one of my favorite doctor/surgeon teams. And we’re having a great time, we get the report back from lab that the margins are clear, and then we start to sew him back up. The anesthesiologist says “stop” because we put these great big retractors in. They actually look like the end of a hoe, and you have two of them. So we had to take them out and pause while he got the patient back into normal sinus rhythm. And then we put them back in and pulled it so he could sew, and “stop, stop.” Well, three times of this, the surgeon stopped, and he literally reached over on the surgical tray and he picked up my gloved hand, and he goes, “I think this will be just right.” He sent me around to the other side and you know, I have small hands