Systemwide LGBTQ symposium returns for second year

The University of Colorado Faculty Council will sponsor a symposium later this month to provide a forum for faculty, staff and students at CU to exchange ideas and learn new strategies for being inclusive of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied community in the classroom and throughout the university.

The Faculty Council, working through the Committee on LGBTQ Affairs, presents the event at CU Denver, on the Auraria Campus at St. Cajetan’s Church, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25.

“Creating Equity for the LGBTQ Community in Higher Education: Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century,” is the title of the second annual event, which follows a successful launch last year.

The keynote address will be delivered by Glenda Russell, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and author of “Voted Out: The Psychological Consequences of Antigay Politics,” co-author of “Conversations About Psychology and Sexual Orientation,” and author of numerous other journal articles and book chapters.  She will be discussing how the LGBTQ movement has transformed higher education in Colorado and throughout the nation. She also will outline the challenges of creating and sustaining an LGBTQ-inclusive campus climate that provides a space where people of all sexual and gender identities can thrive and learn to undo the impact of prejudice.

At the symposium, speakers will address how CU is responding to the rapidly changing legal and social landscape for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

CU Regent Michael Carrigan, State Sen. Jessie Ulibarri and university administrators will discuss how increased LGBTQ civil rights are shaping the university’s academic and diversity missions.

Faculty will share their “best practices” for ensuring that our teaching and learning environments are equitable and inclusive.

And students will be participating throughout the day to convey what barriers they are still facing despite the recent legal victories for LGBTQ civil rights and what changes they would like to see at the university.

The symposium is free but advance registration is required.  Lunch will be provided for the first 80 registrants.