Faculty Council Committee Corner: LGBTQ+
Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing CU Connections series in which the Faculty Council highlights each of its committees and their efforts. See past installments here.
The Faculty Council LGBTQ+ Committee has been charged with considering concerns of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender faculty, including: (1) assessing the cultural climate of the university as it pertains to opportunities for LGBTQ+ faculty for academic advancement, productivity, and appropriate compensation; (2) making recommendations for creating an academic environment that fosters the academic success of LGBTQ+ faculty; (3) working to assure fairness in the recruitment and retention of LGBTQ+ faculty; and (4) developing support networks and recommending policy to address the needs of LGBTQ+ faculty.
Over the past several years, the LGBTQ+ Committee has advocated for and achieved inclusion of transgender-health-related services in university insurance coverage, coordinated CU’s sponsorship of and representation in Denver’s PrideFest, and co-hosted multiple intersectional symposia in collaboration with the EMAC (Ethnic and Minority Affairs) Committee.
This year, the committee is focusing on a couple of policy initiatives.
First, the committee will continue its work advocating for the opportunity for employees to voluntarily disclose information regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Students have recently been provided with the ability to disclose this information, and the committee would like employees to have the same option.
The committee also is working this year on developing a more streamlined process for transitioning individuals to update their relevant information within all of the university’s system, and creating resources to help folks navigate the process.
The committee also would like to remind everyone of this year’s Transgender Awareness Week (Nov. 13-20) and the Transgender Day of Remembrance/Resilience on Nov. 20. This day memorializes all transgender and non-binary individuals killed each year due to violent transphobia, and emphasizes the strength of trans and gender-nonconforming communities of color.
Out Boulder has information regarding Transgender Awareness Week (https://www.outboulder.org/events/taw). More information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance is available at https://www.glaad.org/tdor and https://www.hrc.org/campaigns/transgender-day-remembrance, and about Transgender Day of Resilience at https://www.tdor.co/.
Finally, the Committee will be hosting a lunch at each of the four CU campuses over the course of the year to meet faculty who may be interested in joining us and discussing specific LGBTQ+ issues on each campus. Be on the lookout for an invitation to the lunch on your campus.
2018-19 Committee Membership
| Lauren Fontana, Co-Chair | CU Denver, Office of Equity, School of Public Affairs |
| Matt Brown, Co-Chair | CU Boulder, Sociology |
| Jan Gascoigne | CU Anschutz, Public Health |
| Rita Lee | CU Anschutz, Medicine |
| Mary Dinger | CU Anschutz, Public Health |
| Katherine Frasca | CU Anschutz, Medicine |
| Kenton Owsley | CU Anschutz, Medicine |
| Scarlet Bowen | CU Boulder, Center for Inclusion and Social Change |
| Steven Frost | CU Boulder, Media, Communication and Information |
| Deborah Tuffield | CU Colorado Springs, Nursing |
| David Bondelevitch | CU Denver, Music & Entertainment Industry Studies |
| Ed Cannon | CU Denver, Education and Human Development |
| Joanne Addison | CU Denver, English* |
| Karissa Stolen | CU Denver, Office of Equity |
| Kaelin Alexander | CU Denver, University Communications* |
| Darren Chavez | CU System, Office of Academic Affairs Liaison* |
*Nonvoting member
All Faculty Council committees have representatives from the CU system and each of the campuses. Please direct any questions to LGBTQ+ Committee co-chairs Lauren Fontana (lauren.fontana@ucdenver.edu) and Matt Brown (brownmc@colorado.edu).
The Faculty Council Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Committee website: https://www.cu.edu/faculty-council/committees/gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender-and-intersex-issues-glbti-committee