The New Horizons Award honors a clear and impressive record of scholarly research; the potential to contribute significantly to future directions of public address through scholarship, teaching and/or community-engaged work; and a record of challenging of disciplinary hegemonies and/or expansion of the domain of public address to include diverse, historically marginalized scholars and areas of scholarship that have historically fallen outside of rhetoric’s traditional scope.

Chuck Morris

In 2022, Morris was inducted as a Distinguished Scholar by the NCA. He has also been the recipient of NCA’s Douglas Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award (2021), three-time recipient of NCA’s Golden Monograph Award (2003, 2010, and 2022), as well as NCA’s CCS and RCT divisions’ distinguished scholar awards (2020, 2016), the Randy Majors Award for Distinguished LGBTQ Scholarship (2008) and the Karl Wallace Memorial Award (2001) for early career achievement.

Morris is co-founding editor of QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. His books include “Queering Public Address,” “An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings,” “Remembering the AIDS Quilt,” and “The Conceit of Context.” His essays and guest edited special issues and forums have appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Text and Performance Quarterly, Women’s Studies in Communication and elsewhere.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

As associate director of First Year Seminar, Jimmy Luckman helps provide a warm, welcoming and engaging atmosphere for the thousands of first-year students who arrive at the University each year.

When Jimmy Luckman prepared to embark on his college journey at SUNY Brockport, he desperately sought a meaningful connection with the campus community, opting from the get-go to become involved with a multitude of activities.

“I wanted to be a part of that process to welcome students into the college experience,” Luckman says.

Today, as associate director of the University’s (FYS) in the , Luckman helps provide a warm, welcoming and engaging atmosphere for the thousands of who arrive at the University each year.

His professional career and accompanying research studies the emerging field of orientation, transition and retention, which aims to examine why some college students excel and engage with their campus community while others feel disconnected once they arrive on campus.

Jimmy Luckman

“Every day I get to bring in the things that I’m passionate about, what I learned in the classroom, and figure out how we can continue to enhance the student experience and help students figure out their identities. That’s important because I didn’t really find out who I was and discover all the elements of my identity until graduate school. I’m still learning who I am,” says Luckman, a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ issues who identifies as a queer man.

Recently, Luckman completed a doctoral degree from St. John Fisher University in executive leadership and successfully defended his dissertation, “More than Just a Sticker of LGBTQ+ Inclusivity: Exploring College and University-Based LGBTQ+ Center Director’s Process and Perceptions of LGBTQ+ Campus Climate Assessments.”

Among the goals of his research: collecting and leveraging the stories of LGBTQ+ students at various universities to both ensure their experiences are being heard and to create meaningful changes and to explore what universities are doing to connect students with local LGBTQ+ community resources.

“By being outspoken and an advocate in public spaces, hopefully, I can inspire queer scholars, queer community members and allies in our community to make a difference. We have an obligation to inspire queer youth and we must support those who want to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that starts with setting an example. I’m grateful for these opportunities,” says Luckman, entering his fourth-year teaching FYS.

Luckman sat down with SU News to discuss how he uses his lived experiences to enhance his FYS teachings, how he hopes to use his dissertation research to make a difference and effect change and why you can find him wearing his trademark bow tie in class and around campus.

How does First Year Seminar enhance the development of our students?

Jimmy Luckman (second from right) poses with the Department of the Year award.

I tell my students that my classroom is a space for them to actively make a difference on campus. FYS helps students with their transition to the University.

Another thing I love is making students a little uncomfortable. When we think about the transition to college, we think about how to make a comfortable and inclusive environment, and I recognize that. But when I talk to my students about my LGBTQ+ identity, specifically my queer identity, I automatically tell my students on the first day that, based on the way I sound, you’re potentially going to assume certain things about me. This doesn’t make you a bad person if you did. That’s part of FYS, learning about yourself and the opinions we form and learning to get uncomfortable.

Syracuse University is a place to engage in conversations, and for some of our students, they’ve never talked to someone who was so out before. I often share my queer identity and that openness invites students to share the elements of who they are, and potentially to expand what they know about the LGBTQ+ community.

How has your time on campus helped you discover your queer identity?

Some people say coming out, but I say I came into my identity at age 24 because that reflects how I was able to truly embrace who I am. I came into my queer identity in my graduate program [at Northern Arizona University] and Syracuse was the space and the place where I first explored how my identity looks as a working professional and as a role model who engages with and forms friendships and connections in the community.

I started volunteering at the immediately when I came to Syracuse in 2019. The majority of my really close friends are members of the LGBTQ+ community because we have similar interests and that commonality of seeking spaces where we can be authentically queer, which is something that I didn’t get to do when I was younger.

Syracuse has given me an opportunity to learn, reflect and try to find those alliances, resources and people to help propel our community forward. The has been very intentional and inclusive in its efforts to provide counseling and resources to the community. The has invited me to do a on my dissertation. We have a space to celebrate queer work and I know we have people on campus who feel a sense of support through the people and the resources available to them.

How did you decide on your dissertation?

There’s not a lot of literature specifically focusing on LGBTQ+ campus climate assessments to see how we are actually supporting students. I wanted to look at it from a lens of what do colleges and universities say or do to bring in students while offering an inclusive space, collecting data from LGBTQ+ centers and then utilizing that data to share that out from the perspective of these centers. How do we leverage this data to make changes on campus?

For my dissertation, what I really focused on was the importance of storytelling. We have students who share their stories of their experiences on a college campus, and I explored how can we leverage this information and these stories to make sure their voices are being heard and then go about creating change. How can we support LGBTQ+ students and create inclusive environments and affirming spaces that allow our campus community members to feel safe sharing their life experiences.

What’s the significance of the bow ties you frequently wear?

Jimmy Luckman poses with a First Year Seminar participant.

It’s all about having fun. Students are spending their Friday afternoons with me, so why not dress up for them? I’ve lost track of how many bow ties I own. I have different color bow ties. Holiday-themed bow ties. Floral bow ties. Even an SU-themed bow tie! It’s just a fun and different way to engage with my students. For them to see their professor dressed up and excited for class, I’ve noticed that they will open up with me and trust me more than previous students might have. I’m known on campus hopefully for my positive demeanor and for being a queer leader, but the bow ties help me standout and they’re a conversation starter. Plus, it brings me happiness!

, is an associate professor in the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research. Her expertise includes suicide prevention, and she is currently conducting multiple studies aimed at identifying and mitigating the barriers to mental health help-seeking. She writes: “As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s crucial to recognize that individuals with severe mental health conditions may not seek help or treatment, even among college students who typically exhibit lower levels of stigma associated with mental health treatment. Our recent survey of Syracuse University students suggests that approximately 33% are experiencing moderate to severe depressive symptoms, with about 13%��reporting suicidal ideation. However, only slightly more than half of those with these serious conditions sought treatment, either on- or off-campus, in the past 12 months. Given that our students have full health insurance coverage and good access to care, the low rate could be attributed to perceived stigma; quite a few of our students responded that others would think less of someone who has received mental health treatment. Mental Health Awareness Month provides an excellent opportunity to reach out to those struggling with mental health issues and assure them that seeking help is entirely acceptable.”

, is an assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College. He teaches courses in human sexuality, cultural diversity, and relationship therapy with LGBTQ clients. . He writes: “Mental health is a conversation that we all should be having; this month gives us a moment to reflect on those around us who may need additional support. For example, the LGBTQ community experiences higher rates of mental health needs. This is driven from the compounded impact of minority stress, or external discrimination which leads to psychological distress. This year a record number of anti-lgbt bills () have been introduced across the nation. This disheartening statistic highlights the overt discrimination and resulting fear for many. As the need for support increases, therapists should increase their accessibility to this community through LGBTQ-affirming therapy, offering support and validation of their lived experiences.”

, is an associate teaching professor of social work at Syracuse University’s Falk College. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a mental health therapist, family advocacy officer in charge, and as manager of the alcohol and drug prevention and treatment program. . He writes: “Addressing the mental health challenges and suicide risks within the military demands a multi-pronged and proactive strategy. This approach should include enhancing mental health services, bolstering support for families, and advocating for a sustainable work-life balance. Such a balance would help soldiers understand the significance and impact of their work on the lives of American civilians, underscoring its meaningfulness. Confronting systemic issues is a critical step towards fostering a healthier, more resilient, and operationally effective military force. By committing to these measures, we can offer robust support to our soldiers, contributing significantly to the establishment of a fortified and capable military entity.”

, associate professor at the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, is a��parenting researcher who joined the Falk College in 2012 following a series of faculty appointments, including a Fulbright fellowship in Cyprus. In both teaching and research, he seeks to understand the principles by which parents and families support optimal child development. He has a broad interest in working to enhance teaching in the developmental sciences. He writes: “In terms of parenting and mental health, one of the most current topics is the work outlined by Jonathan Haidt in his newly-released book ‘The Anxious Generation’ In that work he is basically arguing that an over controlling, overprotective approach to parenting that also encompasses funneling kids into using phones and other media is what is responsible for the growth in mental health challenges. The idea is that parents are overly concerned about the physical harms that might happen to their children so they keep them away from free unsupervised play. Through free unsupervised play, children learn to feel more confident and less anxious- and also spend less time with phones. So this overprotectiveness based on anxiety about potential harms leads them to actually experience high rates of anxiety because they are less prepared to deal with the challenges of adolescence.”

Anti-trans legislation—including proposed bills and laws that attempt to limit health care access, remove Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) materials from schools and ban trans athletes from sports—have recently passed in some states.

For transgender and nonbinary individuals, these actions may compound on a personal level, resulting in negative impacts on their mental health and wellness while echoing throughout a lifetime of intersecting identities within work, education, personal relationships and more.

On Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., the University campus community is invited to learn more about this topic by attending the in 214 Slocum Hall.

Syracuse University has a wide-array of resources available for transgender and nonbinary individuals (photo by Marilyn Hesler)

Staff members from the Barnes Center at The Arch, the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics’ marriage and family therapy program will explore the health and wellness impact these legislations can have on the trans and gender non-conforming community, and what the University��can do to mitigate these negative impacts while providing critical supports for LGBTQ individuals.

“We see this panel as an opportunity to increase knowledge and awareness of the impact of the current sociopolitical landscape on our LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff and community members,” says Carrie Brown, counseling director at the Barnes Center at The Arch. “We hope this inspires and empowers all, as it is everyone’s responsibility to further support cultivating a welcoming, validating and accepting community on campus and beyond.”

Syracuse University Trans and Gender-Affirming Support

As a connected campus community, faculty, staff and students actively work to remove barriers and increase access to student-focused and student-guided Trans and Gender Affirming support. Highlighted campus resources include but are not limited to the following:

Trans and Gender Affirming Health and Wellness

• Wellness exams, supplies (e.g. chest binders, KT Tape), hormone therapy and more;
• Official letters and documentation of name and gender;
• A diverse team of Barnes Center counselors provide group therapy and individual counseling; and
• Free, discreet and inclusive Safer Sex Express sexual health care supplies.

For more information, visit the .

Discovering Community

• : ,

For more information, visit the .

Strengthening a Welcoming Campus

• Workshops: ,
• Trainings: , ,
• .

LGBTQ History Month was created in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school history teacher. In 1995, the General Assembly of the National Education Association passed a resolution that stated a list of commemorative months, which included LGBTQ History Month. The General Assembly selected October since National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) was already established, as well as the anniversary of the first march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights in 1979.

The University’s LGBTQ Resource Center is hosting various events throughout the month of October to celebrate the history, culture and contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community. These events, and the ’ corresponding book display, are vital to educating the campus community and promoting belonging and inclusion.

The Libraries’ book display highlights the stories of many identities within the LGBTQIA+ community, with a particular focus on trans individuals. Trans people and their existence are being erased through anti-LGBTQ bills and book banning. So far in 2023, there are a total of�� reported to the American Library Association. Additionally, six of the ��contain LGBTQIA+ narratives.

Currently, there are approximately 575 anti-LGBTQ bills circulating throughout the U.S. government, including several bills targeting the trans community. Whether you are a queer or trans person or an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, we must move beyond only educating through great resources we find in libraries to advocating for those who are being targeted.

Visit the�� to find out how you can reach out to your representatives and browse our highlighted collections.��The LGBTQ History Month book display is located on the first floor of Bird Library in the New Books Area and will be on display throughout October. Visitors who stop at the Libraries can also get a free “Read with Pride” sticker this month.

Below are a few selected resources that are featured in the LGBTQ History Month Display:

Featured Books

“,” edited by Freiya Benson

A groundbreaking anthology of writing on the topic of love, written by trans and nonbinary people who share their thoughts, feelings and experiences of love in all its guises. The collection spans familial, romantic, spiritual and self love, as well as friendships and ally love, to provide a broad and honest understanding of how trans people navigate love and relationships and what love means to them.

Reclaiming what love means to trans people, this book provokes conversations that are not reflected in what is presently written, moving the narrative around trans identities away from sensationalism. At once intimate and radical, both humorous and poignant, this book is for anyone who has loved, who is in love and who is looking for love.

“,” edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth

Inspired by “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” the classic and powerful compendium written by and for cisgender women, “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves” is widely accessible to the transgender population, providing authoritative information in an inclusive and respectful way and representing the collective knowledge base of dozens of influential experts. Each chapter takes the reader through an important issue, such as race, religion, employment, medical and surgical transition, mental health, relationships, sexuality, parenthood, arts and culture, and more. Anonymous quotes, testimonials, art and poetry from transgender people are woven throughout, adding compelling, personal voices to every page. In this unique way, hundreds of viewpoints across the community have united to create this strong and pioneering book. It is a welcoming place for transgender and gender-questioning people, their partners and families, students, professors, guidance counselors and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life.

“, edited by Katherine Crawford-Lackey and Megan E. Springate

With a focus on historic sites, this volume explores the recent history of non-heteronormative Americans from the early twentieth century onward and the places associated with these communities. Authors explore how queer identities are connected with specific places: places where people gather, socialize, protest, mourn and celebrate. The focus is deeper look at how sexually variant and gender non-conforming Americans constructed identity, created communities, and fought to have rights recognized by the government. Each chapter is accompanied by prompts and activities that invite readers to think critically and immerse themselves in the subject matter while working collaboratively with others.

Featured Databases

Enjoy various documentaries and award-winning movies that are available for your viewing on Kanopy!

This database includes resources related to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

Story by Michelle K. Mitchell, reference and instruction librarian, Department of Learning and Academic Engagement

Each October, the unveils a calendar that through the lenses of intersectionality, LGBTQ and global communities reflects on their history and contributions while looking to the future. The University’s is Monday, Oct. 2.

LGBTQ History Month was created in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher in Missouri. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBTQ History Month within a list of commemorative months. October was selected to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), which was already established, and the anniversary of the first march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights in 1979.

This month provides an opportunity for the campus community to learn more about and celebrate the history, culture and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual communities through a host of educational events, social events and discussions. With planning led by the LGBTQ Resource Center, the month supports the ongoing efforts of the center to raise awareness and offer support to queer and trans students, staff and faculty and promote a sense of belonging and inclusion on campus and beyond.

This year’s events are more important than ever. “At a time when attempts are being made to erase our community through anti-LGBTQ bills—banning books about us, eliminating access to health care for our trans siblings, or keeping some of us from public spaces by enforcing antiquated gendered dress codes—it is imperative that as a community, of both queer and trans people as well as allies, we educate ourselves about who we are and where we came from,” says Jorge A. Castillo, director of the LGBTQ Resource Center. “This month’s calendar of events and programs celebrates and acknowledges the achievements, milestones and ongoing challenges faced by our community as we collectively imagine our future.”

Members of both the Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry communities are invited to participate. Explore event highlights below and the complete list on the .

• Friday, Oct. 6, 5-7 p.m.:
• Wednesday, Oct. 11, Noon-4 p.m.:
• Thursday, Oct. 19, 7-8:30 p.m.:
• Friday, Oct. 20, 6-8 p.m.:
• Saturday, Oct. 21, 10 p.m.-Midnight:

Call-to-Sign: Queer and Trans Solidarity List 2023-24

As a visual representation, the helps to highlight and further the support within our campus communities. The LGBTQ Resource Center will collect names throughout the academic year for online publication; those who would like to have their name included in the print version of the list in The Daily Orange must submit their name by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8.

For more information or to request accommodations, contact the by calling 315.443.0228 or emailing lgbtq@syr.edu.

Story by Esteban Quiñones ’24, Student Experience intern

Minnie Bruce Pratt

Pratt died on July 2 at the age of 76. According to an in The New York Times, her death was caused by glioblastoma. A few weeks before her death, her sons Ben and Ransom Weaver that she was “free of pain and surrounded by loving friends and family.” It was a poignant post by the sons she fought for but lost custody of after she came out as a lesbian in the mid-1970s. In North Carolina where she lived at the time, same-sex relationships were considered a crime.

Pratt was already a renowned feminist, poet, essayist and activist when she came to Syracuse University in 2005, with a joint appointment as a professor in the departments of writing and women’s studies.��She began her Syracuse tenure teaching two courses: Nation, Sex, Sexuality: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Life in the U.S. in the women’s studies program and Narratives of Power in the writing program. She was a key architect in the 2006 launch of the in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Pratt also co-chaired and keynoted numerous academic conferences, served as an affiliated faculty member in disability studies, and lent her expertise to major programs and initiatives, including the University’s Future of Minority Studies Project and the Stone Canoe arts journal.�� At a retirement celebration to honor her decade of teaching at Syracuse, she was credited with helping the University be named as one of the nation’s top-50 LGBT-friendly institutions.

Pratt was born Sept. 12, 1946, in Selma, Alabama, and attended a segregated high school. She earned a B.A. from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she was also Phi Beta Kappa, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to Syracuse University, she taught at the University of Maryland-College Park and was the Jane Watson Irwin Chair of Women’s Studies at Hamilton College.

She was a member of Feminary, a feminist journal and collective. She co-authored “Yours In Struggle: Three Feminist Perspectives On Anti-Semitism and Racism,” chosen in 2004 as one of the 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Nonfiction Books of all time by the Publishing Triangle.

Pratt published eight books of poetry: “The Sound of One Fork,” “We Say We Love Each Other,” “Crime Against Nature,” “Walking Back Up Depot Street,” “The Dirt She Ate: Selected and New Poems,” “Inside the Money Machine” and “Magnified.”��“Crime Against Nature,” on Pratt’s relationship to her two sons as a lesbian mother, was chosen as the Lamont Poetry Selection by the Academy of American Poets, an annual award given for the best second full-length book of poetry by a U.S. author. “Crime Against Nature” was also chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and given the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Book Award for Literature. “The Dirt She Ate” received the 2003 Lambda Literary Award for Poetry and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America.��Pratt also received a Lillian Hellman-Dashiell Hammett award given by the Fund for Free Expression to writers “who have been victimized by political persecution.”

Pratt’s book of autobiographical and political essays, “Rebellion: Essays 1980-1991,” was a finalist in nonfiction for the Lambda Literary Awards. This volume includes her essay “Identity: Skin Blood Heart,” which was adopted for teaching use in hundreds of college courses and community groups.

Pratt with these words published on her website: “The struggle—for social justice and for workers and oppressed people, against racism and imperialism and for liberation for women and all gender and sexually-oppressed people—is my life.” And though she was determined through her work to educate and raise consciousness, that wasn’t enough: “We must act on what we understand to be unjust, or our hard-won consciousness is useless, nothing more than sand running back and forth through an hourglass.”

Pratt was predeceased by her longtime partner, author and trans activist Leslie Feinberg and is survived by her two sons, their partners and five grandchildren.

The University’s Trans and Gender Expansive Support Team and allies in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy helped make Trans Support Day a success.

“It was absolutely heartwarming to see the excitement and support radiating from all who participated to provide such a welcoming, affirming and loving space for the trans community,” says associate professor , Ph.D., LMFT, who teaches in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

The annual Trans Support Day started in 2018 and returned this year after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Coolhart says the 2023 event was a huge success, thanks to the leadership and support of assistant teaching professor , Ph.D., 22 marriage and family therapy students, and marriage and family therapy faculty and staff. This year, Trans Support Day saw a remarkable increase in attendance—from 40 in 2019 to 244. “This is what support looks like!” says Coolhart.

“The current political landscape for trans folks is threatening and scary, making this event so necessary and special,” she says. “In a world that often does not welcome trans people, I could see on the faces of the guests the gratitude, validation and support they felt having a space that was celebrating them and connecting them to the resources they need.”

Coolhart founded the Trans and Gender Expansive Support Team in 2004. The Trans and Gender Expansive Support Team is part of the Syracuse University Couple and Family Therapy Center, housed within the Falk College , located in Peck Hall, just north of main campus on East Genesee Street.

Students on the Trans and Gender Expansive Support Team receive specialized training to provide gender-affirmative therapy for transgender people and their families and assist in the readiness process for medical gender transition. “It is amazing to see how the team has grown in all that it does for the community,” Coolhart says.

In the Couple and Family Therapy Center, marriage and family therapy students gain supervised, hands-on clinical experience while providing free therapy services to families, couples and individuals across Central New York. The Department of Marriage and Family Therapy prepares students to work with marginalized populations, at-risk youth, and the LGBQ and transgender communities.

Originally when Pasha enrolled, they felt passionately that becoming a lawyer was the best way to bring about change in their community. But Pasha soon realized the legal field wasn’t for them, and instead, set their sights on earning dual degrees in political science and sociology in the and the .

Since embarking on this journey, Pasha credits the University for providing them with the resources and, more importantly, the opportunities to effect change. Included in those efforts are Pasha’s involvement with a local organization, . The organization educates women of color about reproductive and sexual wellness issues while engaging with a community that often feels neglected, Pasha says.

Erykah Pasha ’24

“Syracuse just always seemed like it was going to be the place for me to go, and since I started going here, it’s clear that was the right choice for me,” Pasha says. “My education has allowed me to improve my own engagement with my community here in the City of Syracuse.”

When they graduate, Pasha plans on assisting marginalized communities and citizens through policy and political engagement.

This summer, Pasha is participating in a highly competitive and prestigious public affairs experience, serving as a research assistant at the University of Michigan through the . Pasha will assist Lydia Kelow-Bennett, assistant professor of Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan, on a book proposal on Black women in popular culture.

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Pasha, a and , discusses their research, how they hopes to create change through this summer experience and how they found their voice through their time on campus.

As Pride Month is celebrated across the country, Pasha, who identifies as queer, shares how both the and the play a pivotal role in their development as a campus leader and how the programs and engagement efforts offered through the LGBTQ Resource Center created a home-away-from-home atmosphere.

Check out episode 141 of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast featuring Pasha. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

, is an assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College. He teaches courses in human sexuality, cultural diversity, and relationship therapy with LGBTQ clients. . He writes:
“Mental health is a conversation that we all should be having; this month gives us a moment to reflect on those around us who may need additional support. For example, the LGBTQ community experiences higher rates of mental health needs. This is driven from the compounded impact of minority stress, or external discrimination which leads to psychological distress. This year a record number of anti-lgbt bills (417) have been introduced across the nation. This disheartening statistic highlights the overt discrimination and resulting fear for many. As the need for support increases, therapists should increase their accessibility to this community through LGBTQ-affirming therapy, offering support and validation of their lived experiences.”

, is an associate teaching professor of social work at Syracuse University’s Falk College. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a mental health therapist, family advocacy officer in charge, and as manager of the alcohol and drug prevention and treatment program. . He writes:
“As we enter May, we are reminded that this month is not only Mental Health Awareness Month but also National Military Appreciation Month. These two themes are connected, as the military community faces unique challenges that can have an impact on their mental health. In addition, the month of May provides us with the opportunity to observe Military Spouse Day, Armed Forces Day, and Memorial Day. Throughout the month of May and every day, our military service members, veterans, and their families deserve our support. Prioritizing the mental health of our military communities strengthens the overall public health and well-being of our nation.

Military members and their families face a range of unique challenges that differ from civilian society, such as deployments, exposure to certain traumatic events, extended periods of separation from loved ones, and more. It’s important to recognize that these challenges are not just at the individual level but rooted in the culture of military life. To support the mental health and well-being of our military populations, we must advocate for specific resources and funding initiatives. This includes increased funding for mental health services, improved mental health screening and assessment, training for qualified mental health professionals, and continued support for military families.

According to the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, “In 2020, there were 6,146 Veteran suicides. This was on average 16.8 per day. In 2020, there were 343 fewer Veteran suicides than in 2019, and the number of Veteran suicides was lower than each prior year since 2006.” The military and veteran communities have certainly made strides in recent years, but there is always more work to be done. Civilians play a critical role as well. By educating themselves on military culture and mental health, advocating for resources, and actively listening, civilians can make a difference in the lives of those who serve our country. Significant change can and does occur at the community level. Veterans and military families are highly active in our local communities across the nation and strengthen our social fabric. Having the right services in place at the community level, such as job trainings, access to quality education, parent support programs, and mental health services, allows our military communities to thrive and not just survive.

Veterans looking for help can find information on their local facility’s website or call the Veterans Crisis Line: Dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255 to connect with a VA responder. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or healthcare to connect.”

, an assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College, studies veterinary social work and currently teaches classes in the online master of social work degree program. . She recently wrote about the burnout and mental health challenges veterinarians experience, sadly with many leading to suicide. She writes:
“A common assumption about the day-to-day experience of veterinary professionals is that they play with animals all day. While this assumption has elements of truth, it’s not the full picture of what happens on a daily basis behind closed doors. Veterinary teams are challenged with routine care of small and large animals to challenging cases, terminal diagnoses, and euthanasias. From working with pets to production animals, veterinary professionals often experience a rollercoaster of emotions. Unsurprisingly, there are many challenges facing the veterinary community causing a workforce shortage from individuals leaving the field due to burnout or financial reasons, retirement, and sadly death by suicide.” Read her full commentary here.

The symposia will feature research, scholarly and creative work presentations, poster sessions and exhibitions planned by schools, colleges and departments across campus to celebrate undergraduate student accomplishments. During the events, students will share their faculty-mentored work and engage in discussions with their fellow students and mentors.

“This spring’s undergraduate research symposia, celebrations and presentation events highlight experiential inquiry and provide opportunities for the campus community to engage with projects that have challenged students to apply their knowledge and skills to work that contributes to new bodies of knowledge,” says , director of the��

The SOURCE Symposium events will feature two forms of presentation:

• Orange Talks are fast-paced oral presentations that focus on the “why?” of the students’ research and creative work; presenters will showcase their projects ranging from hacking present forms of architecture with the past; intersections of fashion and emerging technology; next-generation calcium-ion batteries; how transphobic stand-up comedy impacts the attitudes of young adults; and a film exploring Native American community and representation.
• The Poster Session will feature 84 student poster presenters from across campus with a huge range of projects from students working independently, in teams, or as research assistants. This dynamic event will allow the campus community to meet students, hear the highlights of their work, have fascinating conversations, and experience the incredible range of experiential learning at the University.

The entire campus community is invited to attend the events.

A complete list of the programs in March, April, and May with event and registration details can be found (check back for updated information):

• : March 29 from 4-7 p.m. in Schine 304ABC.
• : The symposium will include Orange Talks: March 30 from 12:30-2 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library; and a poster session: March 31 from 2-4 p.m. in the Panasci Lounge, Schine Student Center.
• : April 7 from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in Schine 304ABC.
• McNair Scholars Research Symposium: April 14 and April 21.
• : April 19 from noon-2 p.m., location TBD. Register to present by March 31.
• : April 21, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium, Newhouse 3.
• Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Festival: April 21
• Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Spring Symposium: April 28
• : May 2, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Hall of Languages.
• Maxwell School Celebration of Undergraduate Scholarship: May 2, 3-5 p.m., 220 Eggers Hall.

Jimmy Luckman

For Jimmy Luckman, college opened his eyes to a world he never knew existed. With fewer than 50 graduates in his high school class in Lyndonville, New York, the opportunity to attend SUNY Brockport gave him access to new and exciting ideas and experiences. “I majored in sociology, and I didn’t even know what that was in high school!” says Luckman. “But I had amazing mentors who saw potential in me and my love of learning.”

Luckman’s sister was not so fortunate. She had such a negative experience during a college orientation that she decided not to attend college at all. His sister has cerebral palsy and felt so unsupported at that college during orientation that she declared it just wasn’t for her. “I witnessed the pain she experienced because she did not feel a sense of belonging and support,” says Luckman.

Those personal experiences shaped Luckman’s decision to enter the field of Orientation, Transition, and Retention (OTR), a specialized area in academia that applies rigorous research to the understanding of why some students excel and others don’t, why some are fully engaged in the college experience and others feel marginalized. Luckman’s research and passion serve him well in his position with the Office of Academic Affairs as associate director of the First Year Seminar (FYS).

Luckman’s work with students, faculty and staff has already earned him national awards and accolades. This past year, he was awarded the by the Association for Orientation, Transition, Retention in Higher Education (NODA), given to graduate/doctoral students who are contributing to the enhancement of the field. Luckman also received the 2023 award from the . In nominating him for the latter, Associate Dean of Student Services Chandice Haste-Jackson wrote: “Jimmy is one to watch; he will undoubtedly be among the change leaders of our time.”

Haste-Jackson detailed how Luckman developed curriculum for the first-year course and training modules using high-impact practices grounded in research, consulted with and trained peer instructors and faculty, delivering the modules to more than 600 individuals in just one year. He “exhibited consummate leadership and the capacity to mentor and support individuals that were tenured and seasoned well beyond Jimmy’s experience. Yet, what he had to offer was not anything they could learn without his guidance and support.”

Luckman brings his personal experiences and insights together with his professional interest in data-driven research. He came out as queer in graduate school; he received his master’s in counseling and student affairs from Northern Arizona University and is currently a doctoral student at St. John Fisher University, studying LGBTQ+ students’ sense of belonging and the phenomena of queerbaiting on college campuses.

“My personal experiences, continuing self-reflection, learning and research demonstrate the importance of exploring identity. I see how much I still have to grow,” says Luckman.�� “The big picture of a campus climate—that sense of belonging, feeling comfortable in navigating campus life—weighs on me every day. College is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. And the first-year experience is just one lap around the track. What students learn in their first year guides them in the next lap around and then the next. For example, they learn to have difficult conversations in FYS, to talk about differences—a skill that will help them throughout college and throughout life.”

Luckman was integral in transitioning the first-year course from being a 5-week, 0-credit, seminar-style course based on a shared reading to a 1-credit, 15-week, semester-style course including experiential learning, which is a graduation requirement for all incoming first-year and transfer students.

In recommending Luckman for the emerging professional award, Associate Professor Kira Reed noted Luckman’s passion for data collection and analysis by monitoring the attendance of all 4,300 incoming students to assess patterns of engagement. “Jimmy presents almost weekly with campus partners data on what we learn about each year’s respective first-year class regarding the number of withdrawals, drops, fails and concern flags raised to brainstorm remedies in real-time that will support student success and retention. The result has been decreased drops and a low percentage of failures.”

Luckman explains how he worked with one college that offered lectures on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility issues as part of the first-year experience but had disappointing student engagement. Luckman called upon campus partners in student experience to help the college implement programs that offered more opportunities for social interaction and dialogue, along with lectures, to engage more students. The associate dean was appreciative and the data demonstrated success.

According to Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives Marcelle Haddix, “Jimmy provided leadership to explore what was done in the past as well as ways to enhance practices in the future to ensure that FYS effectively reflects its mission of helping students transition into the Syracuse University community and engage in conversations focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.” Haddix says Luckman’s work is making education “more engaging, relevant and equitable.”

Luckman believes that Syracuse University is the perfect place for him to put theory into practice to advance research in student success. “We are really innovative at Syracuse,” says Luckman. “In comparison to other first-year experience programs, we have tremendous engagement by a large population of student peer leaders and greater intentionality to integrate DEIA into weekly programming. We are setting new expectations in the field. And we are keeping up with what students are asking for.”

Charles E. Morris III, professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and affiliated professor of LGBT studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, will be honored with two prestigious scholar awards from the National Communication Association at its annual conference in November.

Morris was named a recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes and rewards NCA members for a lifetime of scholarly achievement in the study of human communication. He will also receive the NCA’s Golden Anniversary Monograph Award for article of the year for “,” which he co-authored with the late Daniel C. Brouwer of Arizona State University. The article was published in the flagship Quarterly Journal of Speech 107 (May 2021).

The NCA previously recognized Morris with Golden Anniversary Monograph Awards in 2003 and 2010. His other NCA awards include the Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award in 2021 and two divisional Distinguished Scholar Awards, one in 2020 from the organization’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division and one in 2017 from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.

Morris is co-founding editor of QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. As one of the early scholars of queer studies in rhetoric, he has shaped the field with extraordinary boldness and engagement. His body of research in historic public address has transformed the field, both through the recovery of otherwise neglected GLBTQ rhetoric and through working to queer our understanding of rhetorical theory and criticism.

The NCA advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching.

But despite the instability in their personal life, Middleton had known since middle school how they would make their world a better place: providing a voice to help people learn to advocate for themselves as a speech language pathologist.

Alex Middleton ’22

Middleton made the nearly 2,700-mile trek across the country from their home in San Diego, California, to Syracuse University to study speech language pathology in the in the .

While on campus, Middleton bloomed. Their research on gender-affirming voice and communication modification garnered several awards, including the 2022 Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in the category of Excellence in Student Research. Middleton was also awarded research grants by both The SOURCE and WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering), and they were a recipient of the University’s Invest in Success and Founders’ scholarships.

After graduating, Middleton is enrolled in Pacific University’s speech language pathology master’s program, where they plan on working with transgender populations and continuing their research.

As the campus community celebrates Pride Month, Middleton, who spent the last four years working as a student assistant in the , sat down with us to discuss the important role that scholarship and grant opportunities played in their studies, and the impact faculty had on influencing their career aspirations.

They also address how they became interested in speech language pathology, share the story of how a paperweight convinced them to travel across the country and study at Syracuse University, and why the University’s LGBTQ Resource Center provided a home away from home and a solid support system on campus.

Here is the full conversation with Alex Middleton ’22 on the ’Cuse Conversations podcast.��Note: This podcast includes discussion of potentially sensitive topics. Please listen with care.��A transcript [PDF] is also available.��

As internship coordinator for the residential master’s degree program, Sliker places students in internships; creates internship opportunities with community agencies; supervises students who provide counseling to individuals, couples and families in the at Peck Hall; teaches courses in the department; and supervises transgender and gender diverse support groups through the Gender Expansive Support Team (GEST) created by associate professor .

“I love the work that I’m doing, it’s near and dear to my heart, and it affects me professionally and personally–both individually and with the people I love and care about,” says Sliker. “I’ve got a lot of passion for our transgender expansive team and there’s a huge need in our community for working with trans and gender diverse people.”

Sliker’s job, which they started in November, also brings them back home to Syracuse University. A Syracuse native who attended West Genesee High School, they selected the Marriage and Family Therapy Department’s master’s program because of Coolhart and GEST. Sliker graduated in 2014 after going to school part-time while working full-time at ACR Health as director of the , which provides a safe space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth, their families and allies.

Tyler Cashion Sliker is the internship coordinator for the residential master’s degree program in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Following graduation, Sliker worked at in Syracuse as a therapist for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and they developed Vera House’s first LGBTQ survivor group specifically for LGBTQ-identified survivors of domestic and sexual violence. They also became a site supervisor for the interns from the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program who were placed at Vera House.

In their brief time with the MFT Department, Sliker has made an enormous impact by initiating the transgender and gender diverse support groups and creating new internship opportunities with organizations such as Family Matters, Helio Health, IView, NuStep, Family & Children’s Services of Ithaca, and SUNY Oswego.

“Tyler joined our team full time in the fall of 2021, just as the MFT program was in a state of expansion,” says , clinical director of the Couple and Family Therapy Center.

“We brought in the largest-ever class of residential master’s students and did not have enough internships in the community to make matches. Due to Tyler’s diligence and connections within the Central New York area, we were able to cultivate placements and provide opportunities for the students in this cohort.”

“I appreciate the way Tyler jumped in and worked so hard to meet both student and department needs,” Schimpff adds. “Tyler also took initiative to develop support groups for transgender and gender questioning individuals. It was quite successful from the very beginning and met such an important need in the community.”

In this conversation, Sliker explains more about their role as internship coordinator, the importance of the support groups, and the partnerships they’re forming in the community:

Q: Tell us about your role and day-to-day duties.

Silker: “My job is facilitating placement for students out in the community and I develop relationships with a lot of different community placement sites, such as private practices, community agencies, and community clinics. Placing students there and supporting students throughout their placement is the bulk of what I do.

“In-house, I supervise students here in our clinic, and as part of that I oversee the supervision of our transgender support groups. We offer groups for adults who are trans or gender diverse, teens who are trans or gender diverse, and for the first time ever this past semester we offered a parent caregiver group for parents and caregivers of children who are trans or gender diverse.”

Q: How do students get involved in working with the transgender and gender diverse communities?

Silker: “They can participate in what’s called the Gender Expansive Support Team (GEST) and work alongside Deb (Coolhart), who is the lead and one of the clinical supervisors for GEST. My impact on that aspect of the program is the developing of those support groups for trans and gender diverse people.

“I’m trans myself, and that’s what informs my interest in this. Having been a trans person growing up in the Central New York community, we didn’t have any trans-specific or gender expansive-specific spaces in the community. So that’s where our clinic really meets a need in the community where there’s a gap.”

The Couple and Family Therapy Center, located just off campus in Peck Hall, offers individual, couple, family, and group therapy to the larger Central New York community, serving clients of all ages, identities, and demographics.

Q: Why are having those services so important to our community?

Silker: “Not only is the actual violence increasing toward trans people, but the political and legislative violence has also been increasing. These (support) groups have been needed all along, but they’re even more imperative lately. Our community has a number of local schools where queer and trans students have died by suicide, and while that should have never happened, it certainly shouldn’t be happening anymore, especially in 2022.

“One of the cool things about our groups is that they’ve been running virtually for most of the time and youth get to participate from all different areas of Central New York, so trans youth get to meet other trans youth that they would not normally cross paths with. If that trans youth is living in with a family in a community where they’re the only trans youth that they know, these groups are a great space to decrease that feeling of “wow, it’s not only me, but other people feel this, too.” These groups run for six or eight weeks and they provide a community where maybe they feel less alone and can talk about things that no one else would really understand what that experience is like.

“At the end of the group sessions, we provide information about community resources, in addition to Syracuse University’s resources. And they are welcome to participate in those groups again.”

Q: Tell us more about some of the community partners that you’re involved with.

Silker: “One of our community partners is the at ACR Health. (Q Center Family Peer Advocate) Karen Fuller has regular communication with me and our office coordinator (Anne Metzger-Wormuth) and we share information about what families the Q Center needs to refer to our clinic. The Q Center hosted a meet-and-greet for community partners to meet the staff and the people who work at the Q Center, so of course we relayed that to our students and we had a number of students who attended that event. So, the students who are working in the clinic as part of our program, they’re intentionally going to these opportunities and reaching out to community partners.

“A new partner is the (VLP) of CNY and we’re providing services for their team and working with them on serving transgender clients in a helpful and culturally informed way. Our students will also refer our clients to their program because trans clients will often need legal resources for a name change or gender marker change on an identity document.”

Q: Why is this job so meaningful to you?

Silker: “I love working with MFTs (Marriage and Family Therapy students) in the field, and whether it’s a non-profit or community health clinic or private practice, seeing all the different ways MFTs are doing therapy and working with people and families and couples and helping all those different relationships. I love seeing the diversity of what MFTs do in our Central New York community. And then, of course, watching that translate to the diversity of the learning opportunities for our students. Our students get to see such a wide range of things MFTs can do once they graduate, and that is really exciting to me.”

Internships at Falk College

In Falk, every undergraduate academic program includes an applied learning requirement, which means you will have career-relevant experiences before you enter the job market. Each department is staffed with dedicated, credentialed internship placement coordinators. Leveraging Syracuse University’s established connections with employers across the U.S., they will help you secure purposeful internship placements that align with your desired degree paths. Visit the to learn more about internship opportunities.

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Personal pronouns are the ways we refer to each other in the third person (for example, “he/him/his,” “she/her/hers,” “they/their/theirs,” etc.) All students, faculty and staff can update their personal pronouns in MySlice by . To learn more about personal pronouns, including suggestions for how to ask someone what their pronouns are, review this .

“The Pronoun, Gender and Preferred Name Advisory Council (PGPNAC) is pleased to see the option to display personal pronouns on Zoom, making the platform even more helpful for students, faculty and staff who frequently use it to teach, learn and stay connected,” says Jenny Gluck, associate chief information officer, Academic Technology Services, and PGPNAC co-chair. “Affirming and correctly using someone’s personal pronouns is a matter of basic human respect and the new Zoom feature makes it simple to do so in a virtual environment.”

Pronoun Competency Workshop Friday, Dec. 3

Looking for an overview of the role pronouns and preferred names play as part of LGBTQ inclusion and cultural sensitivity in the Orange community? Join the Office of Human Resources for the virtual workshop on Friday, Dec. 3, from 1 to 3 p.m. ET. The workshop will also be offered on Jan. 6, 2022.

For your Pride Month coverage in June, Syracuse University professors are available for interviews to provide insight and perspective on the LGBTQ+ issues and trends, from the legal to the political to the social:

Think all LGBTQ+ citizens vote the same?��

Think again. The LGBTQ+ community is growing its political power. From Pete Buttigieg’s appointment as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to Caitlyn Jenner’s announcement to run for governor of California, members of the LGBTQ+ community are amassing and growing its political power. In what was dubbed a “rainbow wave” last year, dozens of LGBTQ+ candidates captured historic wins in the 2020 U.S. elections. It included the elections of the first openly transgender person for a State Senate seat and the first gay Black men elected to Congress.

��is the director of����and an associate professor of religion at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences.��Prof. Roberts talks about the importance of remembering the political diversity within this growing community of voters and lawmakers.��

Prof. Robert says:��

William Robert

“I’m almost always thrilled when LGBTQ+ candidates win political offices. ��I say ‘almost’ because our identities are intersections. They’re never reducible to one category, like gender or sexuality. ��LGBTQ+ citizens aren’t a bloc of one-issue voters. They seem not to be a bloc at all, given how little national media attention they receive.”

“What’s most exciting to me are how many LGBTQ+ persons of color who have won recent elections and how their victories range from local to national positions. If the old saying is right, that ‘all politics are local,’ that gives me hope that LGBTQ+ persons can effect urgently needed sociopolitical change.”

New Laws Against Transgender Youth

During the 2021 legislative session in dozens of states, there has been a surge in��anti-trans bills.��Legislatures in 30 some states have considered banning trans youth from sports teams that align with their gender identity. Twenty have weighed bans on gender-confirming medical care for transgender minors. The��

Deborah Coolhart

��is an associate professor in the����at Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. A licensed marriage and family therapist, Coolhart’s scholarly interests include clinical issues related to marginalized and queer experiences and relationships, with a focus on transgender people and their families. Coolhart created the Transgender Treatment Team, which provides services throughout Central New York and where Syracuse University students gain specialized training with trans people and their families.

Coolhart has this to say about actions to restrict health care to trans patients.

“And while there have been steps to afford LGBTQ people the same basic rights as other humans, there are also steps being taken backward. (Last year) the Trump administration finalized an administrative rule for the Department of Health and Human Services, making it legal for healthcare providers to refuse medical treatment for LGBTQ people. This rule especially impacts the trans community, who overwhelmingly report mistreatment in healthcare settings.”

“(Past rulings) also allowed insurance companies to deny coverage for transition-related medically necessary treatments for trans people, including hormone therapy and surgeries. So, if you’re trans and get in a car accident, is the hospital allowed to let you die?”

Stigma Around Blood Donations

, associate professor at Syracuse University College of Law, is available to speak to the media on issues surrounding the current restrictions on gay men donating blood.

Doron Dorfman

Professor Dorfman studies the intersections of health, law and social science to understand perceptions around public health. His scholarship explores how stigma informs the legal treatment of disempowered communities through.

His latest paper,��, which will be published later this year by Boston College Law Review, exposes the paradoxical legal treatment of people who use PrEP, the treatment shown to be highly effective in preventing HIV infection. Dorfman writes that while PreP has wide approval and acceptance for the prevention of HIV, the FDA still restricts PrEP users, largely sexually active gay men, from donating blood through a legal policy known as the ‘.’�� Dorfman’s research shows how moral judgment impacts decisions related to public health which is detrimental not only to LGBTQ individuals but also to society as a whole.

Dorfman wrote about this issue last year for an op-ed in Law 360:����“.”

For more information or to schedule an interview with any of these professors, please contact a member of the Syracuse University media relations department.

• Ellen James Mbuqe,��ejmbuqe@syr.edu
• Daryl Lovell,��dalovell@syr.edu
• Matt Michael,��mmicha04@syr.edu

is the director of LGBTQ Studies and an associate professor of religion at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences. He provides a written perspective about how the ban was basic discrimination, and what this move by President Biden reaffirms for all Americans, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Prof. Robert says:

“Arguments against allowing transgender persons to serve in the military aren’t new. They’re straight out of discrimination 101. Anti-progressives have dusted them off and trotted them out many times, to try to ban men of color, then women, then LGB persons from military service.

“It’s reassuring to see that, once again, these arguments have failed. Because these arguments are really about who gets to count as a citizen, and whose lives count enough to be lost in military service.��There probably hasn’t been, in the last few decades, a more important moment to reaffirm that American citizenship is a capacious category, one more interested in welcoming folks in than in keeping folks out.”

To request interviews or get more information:

Daryl Lovell
Media Relations Manager
Division of Marketing and Communications

M��315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu |

The Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., 2^nd Fl., Syracuse, NY 13202
news.syr.edu |

Syracuse University

is the director of LGBTQ Studies and an associate professor of religion at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Prof. Robert says:

“I’m almost always thrilled when LGBTQ+ candidates win political offices. ��I say ‘almost’ because our identities are intersections. They’re never reducible to one category, like gender or sexuality.

“I know that many LGBTQ+ persons voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, whose records on LGBTQ+ issues are deplorable. That demonstrates that LGBTQ+ citizens aren’t a bloc of one-issue voters. They seem not to be a bloc at all, given how little national media attention they receive.

“What’s most exciting to me are how many LGBTQ+ persons of color won in yesterday’s elections and how their victories range from local to national positions. If the old saying is right, that ‘all politics are local,’ that gives me hope that LGBTQ+ persons can effect urgently needed sociopolitical change regardless of who’s president.”

To request interviews or get more information:

Daryl Lovell
Media Relations Manager
Division of Marketing and Communications

T��315.443.1184 ����M��315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu |

The Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., 2^nd Fl., Syracuse, NY 13202
news.syr.edu |

Syracuse University

“Now more than ever, we want to highlight the importance of strengthening community among our queer and trans folks,” says Jorge Castillo, interim director of the LGBT Resource Center. “Similar to our on-campus programs and events, within this new virtual space, we want the community to know that we’re still here fostering connection and support. Though we may not be sitting in our Center’s living room, we are still here for students through a variety of virtual spaces, connections and involvement opportunities.”

Below are ways you can stay connected with the LGBT RC and participate in their events, services and offerings, wherever you are. For the most up-to-date information, or follow the Center on , or .

Virtual Drop-In Office Hours

Monday through Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. EDT, anyone in need of support can virtually “drop in” to chat, vent or share with a staff member from the LGBT RC . To drop in by phone, simply call 415.762.9988 or 646.568.7788 and use the meeting ID 110-336-951. To set up a meeting outside of these hours, email lgbt@syr.edu.

QueerAntine Time

For the remainder of the semester, join the LGBT RC every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon EDT for a craft or activity and opportunity for socialization on . Upcoming activities include evaluating the best Easter candies, baking vegan and non-vegan cookies, a science fair, a session on houseplants and a virtual tour of the queer-oriented .

“‘Ally’ Is A Verb: Unpacking and Attacking Covert Transphobia” Workshop

Activist and educator will facilitate a virtual workshop designed for cisgender LGBTQ+ allies to address covert transphobia and how allies can support and uplift trans and nonbinary students and community members. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, April 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT and you can . Please email lgbt@syr.edu to request any accommodations.

Lavender Graduation

The LGBT RC’s Lavender Graduation is typically an in-person reception celebrating and sending off LGBTQ+ members of the graduating class. In lieu of an in-person event this year, the Center asks graduating students to share their degree, major(s), minor(s), a brief biography and any photos from their time at Syracuse for a special Lavender Graduation video that will be created and shared later in the semester. The submission form will be available on the Center’s and social media channels.

Safe Zone Workshop

Virtual Safe Zone workshops will be held on April 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. and April 23 from 10 a.m. to noon. This program aims to build a network of students, staff, faculty and community members who are visibly and actively committed to advocating for and creating spaces of respect and inclusion for LGBTQ+ members of our community. .

LGBTQ+ Staff Affinity Group

The LGBTQ+ Staff Affinity group continues to meet virtually every other Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. EDT . The meetings provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ identified staff to express themselves and support one another. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 23. Email lgbt@syr.edu to join the group and request a password for the next meeting.

Extra Support and Resources for the LGBTQ+ Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• (phone: 866.488.7386; or reach out via )
• (phone: 888.843.4564)
• (serves youth through age 25; phone: 800.246.7743)
• (phone: 877.565.8860)
• (text from anywhere in the U.S. to connect with a crisis counselor, 24/7; not specific to LGBTQ+ people)
• (phone: 1.800.273.8255; not specific to LGBTQ+ people)
• (phone: 1.800.RUNAWAY)

is an assistant professor of psychology at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences who researches stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination and experiences of stigma.

Burke says:

“Most of us have felt some pressure to hide things that mark us as ‘different.’ In many everyday situations, people are presumed to be heterosexual and cisgender, and revealing another identity risks social awkwardness or worse.

“National Coming Out Day celebrates disclosure in the face of pressure to conceal. Coming out relieves some of the stress of concealment, and it can help us feel more fully ‘seen’ by others. Plus, there are broad social benefits to the widespread visibility of sexual minorities (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual, and asexual people), transgender people, and people with nonbinary gender identities.

“But disclosure also carries the risk of social rejection, and if people we care about respond negatively, the experience may not feel so liberating. Therefore, the decision to disclose must be freely made.

“This Coming Out Day, let’s celebrate outness in a way that relieves the pressure to conceal without creating pressure to disclose for those who are not ready.”

To request interviews or get more information:

Daryl Lovell
Media Relations Manager
Division of Marketing and Communications

T��315.443.1184 ����M��315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu |

The Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., 4th��Fl., Syracuse, NY 13202
news.syr.edu |

Syracuse University

Participation will take about 30 minutes and is completely voluntary. Study participation includes an online survey and a 24-hour dietary recall asking about foods eaten the within the last 24-hour period. Participants may also choose to enter into three raffle drawings for $30 VISA gift cards.

For more information, contact Iris Jaquez, nutrition science graduate student, at ijaquez@syr.edu.

Olivia Fields

The LGBT Resource Center invites all students, faculty and staff to attend the Lavender Graduation. Formerly known as the Rainbow Banquet, this is an annual event to honor all Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) graduates whose lived experience, scholarship or leadership have contributed to a positive LGBTQ collegiate environment. Campus and Syracuse community members are invited to join the celebration on Sunday, April 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center.

The celebration will include guest speaker Olivia Fields ’01, hors d’oeuvres and recognition of graduates by the LGBT Studies Program, the LGBT Resource Center and the Office of Alumni Engagement. Members of the 2019 graduating class who are interested in being recognized are asked to complete the by noon on Sunday, April 14.

Fields, founder and president of organizational change management firm will share a keynote titled “Authentic Living: I Am Who I Say I Am,” highlighting how she built upon her education and experiences to grow ��professionally and personally. Fields graduated from Syracuse with a dual degree in marketing management and political science.

“As the end of the semester approaches, we look forward to gathering campus and Syracuse community members in celebration of everything our graduates have accomplished,” says khristian kemp-delisser, director of the LGBT Resource Center. “We’re honored to have Syracuse’s own Olivia Fields attend as the ceremony guest speaker. As she shares her personal journey, we hope to inspire the next generation of professionals.”

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be available. For more information or to request additional accommodations, contact the at 315.443.3983.

Lynn Conway

The University Lectures series continues with Lynn Conway, professor emerita of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, on Tuesday, March 26. Conway’s presentation, “An Invisible Woman: The Inside Story Behind the VLSI Revolution in Silicon Valley,” begins at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel and is free and open to the public.

Conway’s appearance is co-sponsored by the , with media sponsor . American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided.

Conway’s discussion will focus on a phenomenon that occurred to her and that she believes has also affected other women scientists, as well as members of underrepresented populations: one in which the discoveries they have made, and their contributions to science and technology, have faded over time from the annals of history.

In 2015, U.S. Chief Technology Officer raised about women’s contributions in science, engineering and math being erased from history. In her talk, Conway will explore a case study of such an erasure and surface about the underlying causes and effects.

“As a woman, I disappeared from history and so did my innovations,” Conway wrote in an insightful essay, in the October 2018 issue of Computer Magazine.

As a young researcher at IBM in the 1960s, she made pioneering innovations in computer architecture. IBM fired her in 1968 upon learning she was undergoing gender transition. A gritty survivor, she restarted her career in “stealth-mode” after completing her transition.

While working at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s, Conway innovated breakthrough methods that dramatically simplified the design of silicon chips, triggering the microelectronics very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) revolution in Silicon Valley and forever transforming computing and information technology. The Mead-Conway VLSI Design methodology—created by Conway and Caltech Professor Carver Mead—is credited with making cell phones and laptops possible.

However, over time, the credit fell more to Mead and less to Conway. To the point that her involvement all but disappeared. In 2009, Mead was an honoree—hailed as one of 16 men lauded as “the [Silicon] Valley’s founding fathers”—at the Computer History Museum’s gala celebration of the 50th anniversary of the integrated circuit. Not only was Conway not invited, she did not even know the event was taking place.

This prompted Conway to research her “disappearance.” By 2010, she had compiled an “,” a collection of artifacts that helped her sort through events.

It was an important step toward telling her story, and her contributions began to reappear. She has since become a member of the Hall of Fellows of the Computer History Museum; been awarded several honorary degrees; and received the (IEEE)/Royal Society of Edinburgh James Clerk Maxwell Medal, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the IEEE Computer Society’s Computer Pioneer Award.

She is a fellow of the IEEE and the , and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

In the early 1980s, Conway left Xerox to become assistant director for strategic computing at the . In 1985, she moved to the University of Michigan as professor of electrical engineering and computer science and associate dean of engineering.

For decades, Conway had kept her gender transition a secret. When nearing retirement from the university, in 1999, she began quietly coming out as a trans woman, sharing with her friends and colleagues, and using her to tell her story. It was more widely reported in 2000 by way of profiles in Scientific American and The Los Angeles Times.

After going public with her story, Conway began work in transgender activism, intending to “illuminate and normalize the issues of gender identity and the processes of gender transition.” She has worked to protect and expand the rights of transgender people, including by evolving her website into a multilingual beacon of encouragement and hope for transgender people worldwide.

In addition, in 2012, she published a memoir that finally revealed how—closeted and hidden behind the scenes—she conceived the ideas and orchestrated the events that disruptively changed an entire industry.

About the University Lectures
Now in its 18th season, the University Lectures was created through, and is supported by, the generosity of alumnus Robert B. Menschel ’51. The cross-disciplinary series brings to Syracuse University notable guest speakers of exceptional accomplishment who share their diverse global experiences and perspectives.

The next and final speaker in the spring semester is , distinguished fellow and director of executive education at the , former executive vice president��of the and two-time U.S. ambassador to Israel (April 16).

The University Lectures welcomes suggestions for future speakers. To recommend a speaker, or to obtain additional information about the series, write to��lectures@syr.edu. For up-to-date information on the series, visit the University Lectures and follow on .

Eric D. Pritchard

The Black History Month celebration is underway with a robust of events that continues throughout February.

Next in the lineup, the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) welcomes Eric Darnell Pritchard to deliver the annual Black History Month Commemorative Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. in 304ABC Schine Student Center. Pritchard’s lecture, “Black Supernovas: The Legacies of Black Gay Fashion Designers,” centers on themes from his award-winning book, (Southern Illinois University Press, 2016).

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided during the lecture.

Pritchard is an award-winning writer, cultural critic and engaging public speaker. He is an associate professor of English at the University at Buffalo and a member of the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. His research and teaching focus on the intersections of race, queerness, sexuality, gender and class with historical and contemporary literacy, literary and rhetorical practices, as well as fashion, beauty and popular culture.

“Eric brings an ability to connect topics of popular culture to the Black LGBTQ experience,” says��OMA Coordinator of Student Engagement Cedric T. Bolton. “His work is relevant to what is going on in this day and age, making the topics he discusses resonate with many audiences.”

Pritchard was honored by PrideIndex.com with the .

He earned a B.A. in English-liberal arts at Lincoln University and an M.A. in Afro-American studies and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For more information on the lecture, contact Bolton at ctbolton@syr.edu.

Written by ESE Communications Intern Nadia Suleman ’19.

The symposium will feature Diamond Stylz of the “Marsha’s Plate: Black Trans Talk podcast;” Sir Knight, Syracuse University alumnus and host of��channel on YouTube; and a conversation with Nikeeta and Money of��” on writing, producing and editing your own podcast, followed by a live recording.

“Queer(ing) the Airwaves is an important opportunity for Syracuse University and community members to meet and learn from Queer and Trans People of Color using podcasts and YouTube to create original content and tell our own stories,” says Jorge Castillo, assistant director of the LGBT Resource Center.

The symposium hosts the following workshops:

10-11 a.m., Diamond Stylz, “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Accessories”

This workshop will be a comprehensive analysis of sexual orientation, gender identity and biological sex. Attendees will explore how the intersection and variety of those identities play out in society to the detriment or advancement of socio-economic lives.

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.,��Sir Knight, “A Self Love Workshop”

Sir Knight, founder of BlackTransTV, will discuss and explore the overall health benefits of self-care and the beauty of self-love. As black men of the trans experience, they understand the importance that self-care has for overall well-being. Both men have found refuge in learning how to love themselves and know that self-care is essential in a highly toxic world. This workshop will discuss methods such a journaling, mirror talk, affirmations, meditations and more to help attendees learn to love and care for themselves better.

2 p.m., Nikeeta and Money, “Live Recording of Queer WOC: The Podcast”

“QueerWOC: The Podcast” started as a Tumblr page and has grown into a community space for Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and Trans women of color. Money, a family therapist by day and lewd lesbian by night, and Nikeeta, a community organizer who loves Luther Vandross, host this biweekly podcast celebrating the lives, loves and laughs of queer women of color. The podcast highlights a queer woman of the week, shares healing practices from Money’s therapy bag, explores social justice terminology with Nikeeta and tells tales from their dating chronicles.

Lunch will be provided during a break at 12:30 p.m. with vegan and gluten-free options available. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided during the workshops.

Following the symposium, from 5-7 p.m., The LGBT Resource Center, in partnership with Black Cuse Pride and Qolor Collective, is hosting a closed QTPoC networking social at Sugar Magnolia Bistro in Armory Square (316 S. Clinton St). Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Gluten free and vegan options available. All QTPoC are welcome to attend.

For more information about LGBTQ History Month, visit the . Accommodations requests and additional questions should be sent to lgbtq@syr.edu or 315.443.3983.

“The LGBT Resource Center serves the complex intersections of our multiple identities through community building, intellectual and leadership development, and outreach and visibility. The activities and events planned as part of LGBTQ History Month do just that—provide the campus community with opportunities to connect with others in the LGBTQ and Ally community, learn about the diversity of identities and intersectionality, and raise awareness of LGBTQ identities and contributions then and now,” says khristian kemp-delisser, director of the LGBT Resource Center.

The month features Pride Shabbat at Hillel on Friday, Oct. 5, a film screening of at Watson Theater on Oct. 13, free and confidential STI testing on Oct. 25, Fright Night at the Fair with the LGBT Resource Center on Oct. 27 and . The University community is also invited to stop by the International Pronoun Day outreach table on Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Milton Atrium and the Rainbow Open House at the LGBT Resource Center, 750 Ostrom Ave., from 4 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 26. In addition, general meetings for the student organizations , and and the closed discussion groups and will be held throughout the month.

The commemorative event this year is the Queer(ing) the Airwaves: QTPoC Media Symposium scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 20, beginning at 10 a.m. in 319 Sims Hall. The symposium brings together Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPoC) creators, activists, writers, podcast and video producers, and community members for a day to engage in conversations about the intersections of gender, sexuality and race, and working in new media. The symposium will feature Diamond Stylz of the “Marsha’s Plate: Black Trans Talk podcast”; Sir Knight, SU alumnus and host of channel on YouTube; and a conversation with Nikeeta and Money of ” on writing, producing and editing your own podcast, followed by a live recording.

This month-long celebration is made possible through collaborations and sponsorships with organizations��and departments on and off campus, including ACR Health; Black Cuse Pride; the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion; College of Engineering and Computer Science Career Services; the Disability Cultural Center; Hillel; the Office of Multicultural Affairs; Parent and Family Services; the Preferred Name, Pronoun, and Gender Advisory Council; the Q Center; the Slutzker Center for International Services; and local Syracuse alumni, organizers and activists.

The full calendar of events with detailed information is available on the .

For more information, email lgbt@syr.edu or call 315.443.3983.

Tabling will take place in the Schine Student Center on Monday, Oct. 2, to inform the community about Coming Out Month events and opportunities. The month kicks off with LGBTQpartAy! on Wednesday, Oct. 4, from 7-9 p.m. in Jaberwocky Café in Schine, where members of the campus LGBTQIA+ communities are invited to socialize, listen to music and enjoy delicious free food. Please note that the time for Queer Yoga has changed to 7:30-9 p.m. at Archbold Gym, Spin Room (first floor).

Camerin Ortiz ’19, a biology and neuroscience major in the , is the outreach/education coordinator of the LGBT Resource Center. Ortiz explains, “My first Coming Out Month experience was going to the keynote, a slam poetry event entitled ‘Dear Straight People.’ It was the first time I saw and heard queer people of color on a stage be unapologetically themselves. I will always remember that event and it helped me become more confident in my identities.”

Janaya Khan

This year’s keynote event is speaker Janaya Khan, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada. Khan is a Black, queer, gender-nonconforming activist, staunch Afrofuturist and social justice educator who presents an enlightening point of view on police brutality and systemic racism. Khan’s presentations are underpinned by a deep commitment to social transformation. Khan will be presenting on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m., in Maxwell Auditorium.

In addition to Coming Out Month events and celebrations, students��can get involved by applying to be part of the delegation the LGBT Resource Center funds to attend Creating Change. Creating Change is a national LGBTQ leadership conference that grants students the opportunity to attend workshops, plenaries and caucuses that highlight queer and trans identities, experiences and communities. The application will be available until Monday, Oct. 9. For more information, email lgbt@syr.edu.

Members of the Syracuse University community��can show��their��support in a large way by adding their names to the Queer and Trans Solidarity List. “The Queer and Trans Solidarity List is a way to celebrate and recognize our lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning and asexual communities and their allies,” says Tiffany Gray, director of the LGBT Resource Center. “This list signifies the immense support for our students and community members with marginalized genders and sexualities, and serves as a reminder that queer and trans resistance and existence is beautiful.” To add your name to the list, email lgbt@syr.edu from your Syracuse University/ESF email account with your name as you would like it to appear. The deadline for submitting your name is Oct. 6.

For more information, contact the LGBT Resource Center at 315.443.3983 or��lgbt@syr.edu.�� Additional information about Coming Out Month will be available on the�� website.

Students enjoy last year’s LGBT Resource Center Annual Welcome Social.

The event returns this year with all of the activities that have made it memorable in the past: an ice cream truck, a cotton candy machine, slushies and lawn games. Most importantly, however, the social is a fun opportunity to engage with the LGBTQIA+ community and resources.

“The LGBTQIA+ Welcome Social is an opportunity for all people, especially first-year students, to connect to the LGBT Resource Center, engage with the LGBTQIA+ campus communities and begin to build relationships with other students,” says Abby Fite, program coordinator at the LGBT Resource Center.

Please note, the Resource Center is not accessible to all wheelchair users; if you have concerns about accessing the space, please e-mail lgbt@syr.edu.

“Even when parents want to support their transgender child, they often struggle to because they are dealing with their own emotional process. It is common for parents to experience fear and loss in their adjustment to their child’s gender identity,” said Dr. Coolhart.��“These emotions make sense because trans people do face increased risk for discrimination and suicidality.����Parental support has been shown to be an important protective factor in mental health outcomes for trans people, so it is important that parents work through these emotions and learn how to support their child.”

For more information or to talk to Dr. Coolhart, please contact Ellen James Mbuqe, director of news and public relations for Syracuse University, at ejmbuqe@syr.edu��or 315-443-1897, or Michele Barrett, director of communications for Falk College at��mibarret@syr.edu��or��315-443-6172.

“The LGBT Resource Center is excited to invite people from SU, ESF and the city of Syracuse to our 15^th annual Rainbow Banquet. This event is an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of LGBTQ people, celebrate the beauty of LGBTQ communities, and mark the 15^th anniversary of the Resource Center’s founding,” says Tiffany Gray, director of the LGBT Resource Center.

Graduating students who wish to be recognized at this year’s event must complete the by Tuesday, April 11.

In addition to recognizing the 2017 graduating students, the event includes presentation of the annual Rainbow Recognition Awards, which recognize those who have made a significant contribution to LGBTQA+ communities and embody the LGBT Resource Center’s four core values: accountability, awareness, community and social justice. Rainbow Recognition Award nominations are due by Sunday, April 9, and can be submitted via the online nomination form.

This year’s event includes a banquet dinner, keynote address, music and dance floor. Keynote speaker is Reina Gossett, an Activist Fellow at Barnard College’s Center for Research on Women, renowned speaker and trainer, and filmmaker. Most recently, Gossett co-directed and co-produced the short film “Happy Birthday, Marsha!,” chronicling the life of trans activist Marsha P. Johnson.

American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation will be provided. For more information, or to request accommodations, please email lgbt@syr.edu or call 315.443.3983.

The Trans Week of Liberation keynote event, #BlackExcellenceTour, is Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in Life Sciences 001. The keynote features CeCe McDonald and Joshua Allen, Black, trans feminine activists. [Update, April 7, 2017, 8 a.m.: The keynote event has been rescheduled to Friday, April 7. The event will be in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library, from 3-5 p.m., and the UnVigil for honoring trans lives will immediately follow the keynote from 5-6 p.m. (see below for details).]

Their talk will focus on intersectional racial and gender justice and their vision for radical social change, revolutionary love and liberation that centers those who are the most marginalized.�� American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided.

“We are excited to welcome Cece and Joshua and have the #BlackExcellence Tour include a stop to Syracuse University,” says Tiffany Gray, director of the LGBT Resource Center.�� “They have traveled the country speaking and organizing around issues of race, gender, sexuality and class. Their work is powerful and important, and we encourage the campus community to join us at this event.”

Following the keynote is the Trans Week of Liberation UnVigil on Thursday, April 6, from 9 to 10 p.m. on the Quad. The UnVigil reclaims the vigil space that often times, for trans communities can be passive events that reinforce a narrow narrative of imminent violence.�� During the UnVigil, participants will honor the trans women of color who have been murdered this year, engage in active healing, and strive to transform pain into power.

Concluding the week is a daylong workshop on Friday, April 7, focused on Pulse. The workshop will explore the systems of oppression and possibilities for liberation through a critical examination of Orlando.��The workshop is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library. Participants will have an opportunity to begin to process and heal from this summer’s events at Pulse in Orlando; build affirming relationships within and across their own identities; analyze the ways in which systems of oppression enable personal violence; and begin developing strategies to promote social justice. The workshop is open to all SU/ESF students, faculty and staff. To register,��email lgbt@syr.edu.

In addition to the keynote event, UnVigil and workshop, the week includes a trans-positive sexuality talk with Bear Bergman, an interfaith dialogue dinner honoring Pulse in collaboration with the Disability Cultural Center, Trans Day of Visibility tabling in Schine Student Center and a community dinner.

For more information about Trans Week of Liberation, contact the LGBT Resource Center at lgbt@syr.edu.

The Safer People, Safer Spaces training is an interactive, allyship development training that engages participants in community building, explores language related to marginalized genders and sexualities, discusses campus climate, and develops action steps to create safer, more inclusive spaces on campus and beyond. During the training, participants will take part in different activities and discussions that will develop a greater sense of what it means to be ally.

Space is limited as the intensive structure of the training limits the size of the group to 30 participants. Those interested are encouraged to sign up by emailing the LGBT Resource Center as soon as possible. Departments or groups interested in organizing a separate training can also email the LGBT Resource Center to request a training.

For more information about Safer People, Safer Spaces and other programs and trainings, visit the LGBT Resource Center website.

The mixer provides an opportunity for LGBTQA faculty and staff to come together, get to know one another, and build community.�� Partners are also welcome.

Appetizers will be served.

For more information or questions, contact Britany (BCash) Cashatt, associate director in the .

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During the focus group, participants will be presented with the two options developed by Pentagram—an independent design consultancy hired by the University to evaluate campus signage—based on the suggestions and input from campus participants at the engagement session in October.

The focus group, which will be facilitated by the Maxwell School’s (PARCC), seeks to have participants assess the two options and provide feedback that will then inform and guide the development of the final design options. Campus community members will then have the opportunity to vote online for their preferred design.

“The Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction, LGBT Resource Center and Office of Residence Life have been working closely together to guide this process, and appreciate all the students, faculty and staff who took part, and continue to take part, in shaping options that reflect our community’s commitment to inclusion,” says Joe Alfieri, director of the Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be available at the focus group. For questions about accessibility or to request additional accommodations, please contact the Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services (EOIRS) office at 315.443.4018.

Refreshments will be provided.

Roger Hallas

Associate Professor of English Roger Hallas of the has been awarded $33,000 from the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation to complete his book project titled “A Medium Seen Otherwise: Photography and Documentary Film.”

One of nine fellowships awarded by the foundation, the funds will help finance the last leg of Hallas’ project, which explores the intersection between photography and a documentary film and how the combination of the two is perceived by its audience.

“I’m honored and excited to have received the fellowship,” Hallas says. “I’m thrilled to be able to finish up the project and looking forward to being able to present it in full to the public.”

His research specializes in documentary media, LGBT studies and visual culture. His previous books have examined how visual culture bears witness to historical trauma.

His first book, “,” which he co-edited with Frances Guerin, analyzes how different visual media inscribe acts of witnessing and how the image itself can serve as witness to historical trauma. The second book, “,”��illuminates the capacities of queer film and video to bear witness to the cultural, political and psychological imperatives of the AIDS crisis.

While conducting research for his previous work, Hallas found that many photographers who were documenting a lot of these traumatic experiences were increasingly using the photos in multimedia environments, such as incorporating sound and video.

He became interested in this “changing media ecology,” meaning exploring how old media, which had been traditionally used in one form, was used in multimedia projects, documentaries, films and more. These thoughts are what drove Hallas to develop, research and write his new project for which he was awarded the fellowship.

Hallas teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in documentary media, film theory, world cinema, visual culture and LGBT studies. He was also named the 2011 Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Faculty Fellow. With Newhouse School Professor Tula Goenka, he co-directs the ��held annually in September. During the 2016-17 academic year, Hallas will also be a Syracuse University Humanities Center Faculty Fellow from Arts and Sciences.

He earned a B.A. in modern languages at Oxford University and then pursued a graduate degree at New York University, where he received an M.A. and Ph.D. in cinema studies.

In honor of Trans Day of Remembrance, the is hosting the first-ever Trans Week of Remembrance on campus from Nov. 14-18.�� Trans Day of Remembrance is Nov. 20, and memorializes the lives of those lost due to acts of anti-transgender violence. In addition to honoring those lost, the week also aims to raise visibility and awareness of trans identities.

“In the past, we have honored national Trans Day of Remembrance, but this year we wanted to bring heightened awareness of trans identities, communities and experiences by hosting a weeklong effort,” says Tiffany Gray, director of the LGBT Resource Center. “As we remember the lives lost, we also come together as a community to show our solidarity with all trans people as we work towards creating liberatory spaces on campus and beyond.”

The week of programming includes:

Trans Solidarity Dinner
Monday, Nov. 14, 6-8 p.m., Slutzker Center for International Services (310 Walnut Place)
Be in solidarity with trans communities as we share food, build relationships and engage in important conversations. Open to campus community members.

Clothing Exchange at Café Q
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 6-8 p.m., LGBT Resource Center�� (750 Ostrom Ave.)
Campus community members can donate clean and gently worn clothing to the LGBT Resource Center’s Clothing Exchange until 6 p.m. on Nov. 15. The Clothing Exchange will occur afterwards, and provide students with an opportunity to sift through new wardrobes and leave feeling inspired by a new look.�� Remaining clothing will be donated to a local organization that supports LGBTQA people.

Embody Discussion Group
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 6-8 p.m., LGBT Resource Center
This is a closed discussion group for people who identify as trans, genderqueer, gender nonconforming and gender questioning. Dinner will be served. For more information, email lgbt@syr.edu.

Cookies, Cocoa and Self-Care
Thursday, Nov. 17, noon-1 p.m., LGBT Resource Center
Students are invited to join in guided meditation and some breathing exercises, as well as learn about other free and accessible self-care strategies.

Safer People, Safer Spaces: Trans Week of Remembrance Edition
Friday, Nov. 18, 2-5 p.m., Location TBA
Safer People, Safer Spaces training provides participants an opportunity to engage in community-building, explore language related to marginalized genders and sexualities, discuss campus culture and develop action steps to create safer, more inclusive spaces on campus and beyond. This edition will intentionally center on trans people, identities and experiences.�� Contact lgbt@syr.edu to register for this free training.

Accommodation requests for any of these events should be sent to lgbt@syr.edu at least five days before the event is scheduled to occur.

For more information on Trans Week of Remembrance, visit the or access the .

The Rainbow Banquet aimed to bring students, faculty and staff together with youth and LGBTQ activists in the greater Syracuse community to celebrate the year and recognize their achievements. The event featured the 2015 Graduate Recognition, the Rainbow Recognition Awards, a Graduating Student Keynote, a Graduating Student Video and the Queer Year in Review Slide Show.

“The Rainbow Banquet is a wonderful celebration that serves as a great way to close the year,” says Chase Catalano, director of the LGBT Resource Center. “It’s a great opportunity to show support and honor achievements.”

“The Rainbow Banquet allows students to see the LGBTQA representation on staff, which is validating and affirming,” says Molly Mendenhall, a senior and president of Pride Union.

This year’s Rainbow Recognition Award winners were:

• Maria Brown, Deb Coolhart and Farrell Greenwald Brenner for the Awareness Award
• Montiniquë Denice McEachern and Erin Rand for the Community Building Award
• Joseph Mudge and Donasia E. Sykes for the Integrity Award
• Koy Ian Adams and Mateo P. Diaz for the Social Justice Award
• Tya Smith for the Emerging Leader Award

For questions or more information, please contact lgbt@syr.edu.

LGBTQ youth are often at risk of becoming homeless because of parental physical or emotional abuse or being forced to leave home because of being LGBTQ.

The study’s complete findings will be shared at a public meeting on the housing experiences of LGBTQ youth from the CNY community on Monday, May 4, at 3:30 p.m. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Peck Hall, 601 E. Genesee St. Free parking is available.

The research project entitled, “Housing and LGBTQ Youth: A Mixed-Methods Community Needs Assessment,” is led by principal investigators assistant professor of marriage and family therapy, and Maria Brown, Hartford Doctoral Fellow in Geriatric Social Work, assistant research professor at the Aging Studies Institute.

In addition to understanding the experiences of CNY runaway and homeless LGBTQ youth, the investigators assessed the understanding of homeless LGBTQ youth among local service providers and identified existing services, gaps and barriers affecting runaway and homeless LGBTQ youth. Interviews indicate many youth often have negative experiences in the shelter system and��sometimes engage in dangerous activities to avoid using them. Surveyed LGBTQ youth and service providers feel there is a need for LGBTQ-specific shelters or safe and stable housing beyond shelters.

During the summer of 2013, the Syracuse/Onondaga County Youth Bureau contacted the Falk College Research Center about homelessness among LGBTQ youth. To date, available research on homeless LGBTQ youth has been done in large cities, providing little information about the unique experiences and needs of homeless LGBTQ youth elsewhere. The project received seed grant funding from Falk College and includes collaboration with ACR Health Youth Services and the Q Center, the Syracuse/Onondaga County Youth Bureau and the Salvation Army.

Findings from this study will result in several published manuscripts and provide data to Q Home agencies for applications to fund services for homeless LGBTQ youth. For more information about the event and the research project, contact Coolhart, dcoole@syr.edu, or Brown, mbrown08@syr.edu. To RSVP, go .

“Transgender people have a unique dependence on mental health professionals who provide recommendations that will allow them to receive necessary medical treatments, such as hormones and surgery,” notes Coolhart. “Further, many transgender people who called me did not have the financial resources to obtain private practice therapy.”

Through the development of the Transgender Treatment Team, commonly referred to as the Trans Team, Coolhart was able to refer clients to the ’s Couple and Family Therapy Center for the services needed. When the team was first established, services were provided at a very low cost and then eventually (and currently) for no cost. The Trans Team consists of MFT graduate students guided by Coolhart who are trained in basic clinical skills to work with the transgender population. Beginning in the spring 2013 semester, Dara Shipman, an adjunct supervisor with expertise in this area, will assist in managing the Trans Team, working closely with Coolhart and Falk Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy Linda Stone Fish.

Stone Fish notes, “Deb’s respectful, innovative, interdisciplinary and community-collaborative work with the transgender population and their families is beginning to receive national recognition. She was recently asked to write an article in one of the lead MFT journals as an expert on therapy with transgender individuals. The research continues to support what many of us have always known: people who live in supportive families and communities fare better than people who live in hostile environments. Deb is on the forefront of helping Syracuse be a transgender friendly community. We are lucky to have her here.”

The Trans Team has grown tremendously in the past nine years. It started with just a few clients and three student therapists. Now it includes 14 students, and Falk College’s Couple and Family Therapy Center has approximately 30 transgender cases. Coolhart has seen significant change in the lives of the transgender community in the Central New York area as a result of the Trans Team’s work. “Many clients have gained free access to mental health recommendations for the medical treatments they need to live more congruent lives. Couples and families have been assisted in the adjustment process that occurs when a loved one undergoes gender transition. Community advocacy has been achieved by student therapists interacting with school systems and places of employment to educate about transgender identities and to promote just and sensitive conditions for trans people in these settings,” she notes.

Several scholarly projects involving students and Coolhart have resulted from work on the Trans Team, including a manuscript published in 2008 that appeared in the Journal of GLBT Family Studies. A second article titled, “Therapy with Transsexual Youth and Their Families: A Clinical Tool for Assessing Youth’s Readiness for Gender Transition” is now in press with the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy and was coauthored by Coolhart, newly appointed adjunct supervisor Dara Shipman and other students. Coolhart and her students have presented nationally on this topic, including at the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). This semester, a Trans Team student will be presenting on working with transgender clients in Professor Keith Alford’s SWK 328 class, “Human Diversity in Social Contexts.”

Students working with the Trans Team benefit from this experience tremendously. “They leave our program equipped to sensitively serve this population and to provide recommendations for transgender medical treatments. No other MFT program provides this type of training and incoming students are beginning to report that they are choosing SU’s MFT Program because of the opportunity to be a part of the Transgender Treatment Team,” concludes Coolhart.