Envisioning a Critical and Liberatory Approach to Trans and Queer Center(ed) Diversity Work

Envisioning a Critical and Liberatory Approach to Trans and Queer Center(ed) Diversity Work offers innovative and contemporary approaches for working with and for trans and queer (TQ) campus populations. By taking critical and liberatory perspectives, each chapter offers ideas that will inspire those called to serve TQ communities how to engage in practices to transform campuses, diversity work, and ourselves.

Through unabashedly critical, liberatory, and intersectional lenses, Catalano, Duran, Jourian, and Pryor and the chapter authors challenge readers to use this text to resist the oppression TQ lives face in higher education: "we must envision what we hope to transform our campuses into and use that vision as our compass" (Introduction). The editors have crafted a path toward a future already in progress; rich with insights, the book is accessible at all levels across higher education. It is a love letter that speaks with and to TQ center(ed) diversity work(ers), acknowledging the history and ongoing-ness of our struggle, while remembering that we will always be. This text is essential reading for those whose imaginations are bold enough to embrace it.

– D-L Stewart, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Higher Education Department, University of Denver

There has never been a more urgent moment for Envisioning a Critical and Liberatory Approach to Trans and Queer Center(ed) Diversity Work. The editors bring together cutting-edge thinkers to address the nuances of TQ-centered diversity work across campus locations. As opposition to DEI intensifies, understanding the foundations presented here is critical for educators committed to equity for TQ students, staff, and faculty.

– Kristen Renn, Professor of Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education, Mildred B. Erickson, Distinguished Chair Emerita Michigan State University

Catalano, Duran, Jourian, Pryor and their contributors have created a testament to the transformative power of education when grounded in liberation. It reminds us that transformative change is both possible and necessary, offering affirming pathways forward. Since our book in 2002, no comprehensive volume has explored LGBT student services or TQ-centered work with such depth. This is a must-read for scholar-practitioners, educators, and activists invested in institutional change.

– Sue Rankin, Retired Associate Professor of Education and Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the Pennsylvania State University

Thoughtful and creative scholarship on transgender identities in higher education has long been limited. This essential book champions critical, intersectional, and liberatory TQ-centered engagement, sparking imagination and offering support for the vital work being done on campuses. Congratulations to the editors for their insight and their passion as they move far beyond anything my colleagues and I could have envisioned decades ago.

– Ronni Sanlo, Playwright, author, and LGBT historian. Former director of the UCLA LGBT Center and professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education

Grounded in historical context, this book is an indispensable guide to how TQ ideas, activism, and leadership have shaped equity work in higher education. It honors the courage, creativity, and persistence of those transforming educational policy and practice. It enlivens the work we do with lessons of the past, even as we envision liberatory futures. This book is an excellent roadmap to the home we dream of.

– Susan Marine, Ph.D., Professor, Merrimack College.

D. Chase J. Catalano (he/him) is an associate professor and Ph.D. program coordinator of the Higher Education Program at Virginia Tech. Chase is a former TQ center director and student affairs practitioner which inspires him to engage in collaborative research and scholarship to transform colleges and universities into liberatory spaces and places.

Antonio Duran (he/él) is an associate professor and program co-coordinator of the higher and postsecondary education at Arizona State University. Antonio has developed a robust agenda in the field of higher and postsecondary education. He has also published a text through Peter Lang on culturally based sororities and fraternities.

T.J. Jourian is an independent scholar, consultant, coach, and writer. Motivated by intersectional liberatory movements, his research examines race, gender, and sexuality in higher education, with attention to masculinity, transness, and racialization; TQ centers and practitioners; and trans*ing constructs and methodologies. He writes to get free.

Jonathan T. Pryor (he/him) is an associate professor of higher education administration and leadership and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at California State University, Fresno. Jonathan is a former TQ Center(ed) diversity worker, and his research explores LGBTQ+ equity, campus climates, and leadership in higher education.