Aluminate Magazine Spring 2015
Letter from the Director
"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."
— Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)
For the past decade, the LGBTQ Center’s mission has been to foster a safe, inclusive environment for UNC-Chapel Hill community members of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. We have sought to accomplish that mission through three main areas of focus: education, advocacy, and direct services. Last year, we celebrated 10 successful years. It seemed like an ideal time to review, assess, dream a little, and -- as Pooh so eloquently noted -- “organize” so that our moving into the future “is not all mixed up.”
Over the course of this past semester, we have been engaged in a strategic planning process to identify goals to guide the LGBTQ Center through the next 10 years. We have engaged in a number of tasks throughout the process by reviewing the following:
- Findings and recommendations from our 2012 administrative review process (https://lgbtq.unc.edu/about-center/center-history).
- Programs, structure, and services of a number of our peer institutions (http://oira.unc.edu/institutional-effectiveness/institutional-performance-measures/peer-groups/unc-system-defined-peer-group/)
- The Council for the Advancement of Standards for LGBT Programs and Services (http://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/Lesbian,_Gay,_Bisexual,_Transgender_Programs_and_Services_SAG.pdf)
- The UNC-Chapel Hill academic plan (REACH Carolina) (http://academicplan.unc.edu/)
- The UNC-Chapel Hill Diversity Plan (http://diversity.unc.edu/research-and-publications/diversity-plan/), and,
- The Student Affairs Strategic Plan
- Our program records and assessment data for the past five years.
Currently, we are working to consolidate all of that information in conjunction with envisioning what the future of the LGBTQ Center might look like in the context of current and anticipated needs of UNC-Chapel Hill students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional), staff, faculty, and alumni/ae.
As the director, I envision a future where the LGBTQ Center is prominently visible and engaged in a number of capacities:
- disrupter of heteronormativity and the gender binary
- advocate for equity in policies, practices, benefits, and opportunities
- provider of information and resources
- provider of cultural competency trainings and consultation
- source of community for the diverse LGBTIQPAA, Two Spirit, and Same Gender Loving communities
Our goal is to complete the strategic planning process before the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year and begin to use that plan to guide program and service planning and delivery. We welcome your input. If you have ideas, comments, or recommendations we encourage you to send those to [email protected].
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
- The Growth of Graduate Programs
- Fall Events in Review
- Featured Alumna Spotlight: Kelly Johnson Barber-Lester
- Our Resource Library
- Our Award-Winning Staff
- Support the Center