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SUNY Fredonia will welcome participants from around the state on Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18, for the “Reaching OUT – Summer Institute, Initiating Campus Climate Change for LGBTQ Communities.”
Last fall, SUNY Fredonia was selected as one of 10 campuses to receive a $10,000 grant from the SUNY Office of Diversity and Educational Equity as part of its second Annual Explorations for Diversity and Academic Excellence Initiative. Through a partnership of Fredonia’s Professional Development Center, headed by Dr. Beez Schell, Julie Bezek, and Vice President for Academic Affairs Virginia Horvath, the proposed “Reaching OUT to SUNY” project was funded by the initiative. The proposal’s goals were to help promote the holistic integration of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) into the academic culture, positively impacting student and faculty recruitment and retention, as well as the curriculum and overall campus climate. The summer institute is one of three initiatives funded by the grant.
Featured speakers will include Shane Windmeyer of Campus Pride, and Dr. Margaret Drugovich, president of Hartwick College. The institute will feature a series of 50-minute roundtables/workshop-style programs on a variety of topics designed to actively engage participants. Topics will include addressing homophobia in athletics, starting a campus SafeZone, using the campus library as civic space, starting and/or supporting a campus LGBTQ center, and integrating related topics into teaching. The institute’s activities are designed to encourage colleagues to conference and present best practices from other campuses, encourage collaboration, provide professional development activities, and bring expertise to augment education efforts to date.
Anyone interested in LGBTQ issues in higher education is invited and encouraged to attend. Registration is $35 including conference materials and some meals. For more information, contact Dr. Schell at beez.schell@fredonia.edu, or call Dr. Schell at 716-673-4959. The conference begins at 3 p.m. on June 17, and will continue throughout the day on Saturday, June 18, all in McEwen Hall on campus.
In addition to the SUNY Office of Diversity and Educational Equity, and the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, sponsors include the SUNY Fredonia Affirmative Action Committee’s “Dialogues on Diversity” series and the Buster Brown Bean Company.
