ASHTI is led by a working group of KU faculty, staff, and students that are engaged in scholarship and advocacy related to addressing contemporary slavery and human trafficking. This site is to become an online repository of KU research and data related to human trafficking domestically and internationally. The global, national, and regional initiative to combat contemporary slavery and human trafficking is one of the fastest growing global human rights movements, bringing together practitioners, academics, and civic leaders to find innovative strategies to identify trafficking patterns, to prevent the social inequality that fosters enslavement, and to build stronger communities.  KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research hosted the Kansas Conference on Slavery and Human Trafficking in early 2013 (http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/CIPA/HumanTrafficking/). There were approximately 220 participants at the conference including KU faculty, staff, and students as well as members of the medical, justice, National Guard, and law enforcement services. We also had service providers, social workers, and non-governmental organizations from across the region and nation. The subsequent working group has adopted a three-pronged approach to position KU as a national leader in addressing human trafficking: (1) research, (2) education and (3) training to improve victim services. Our goal is to position KU as a national hub for research on human trafficking, building on our strengths in migration, inequality, global area studies programs, gender, and climate change. The history of Kansas as a free state, the legacy of anti-slavery sentiments in the region, and current efforts to combat human trafficking regionally create a rich foundation for future research and educational programs.