March 20 Panel on Anti-LGBTQ/DEI Policies

Join Point Foundation and LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education for a collaborative panel addressing the anti-LGBTQ laws and anti-DEI policies affecting campuses nationwide.

As schools implement anti-LGBTQ laws and anti-DEI policies that are spreading across the country, staff, faculty, and administrators struggle to maintain safe and equitable campuses. Join a panel of university leaders and students as they highlight the very real impact these laws are having now on the well-being of everyone on campus. Find out how you can continue to fight for LGBTQ students on campus and make a difference to create a more equitable future for all students.

Host

Jamie MaKinster, (she/her) Ph.D. is the Senior Associate Provost for Curriculum, Assessment and Strategic Planning and a Professor of Educational Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She partners with the leadership team in the Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs to advance a diverse portfolio of responsibilities that includes curricular initiatives, evaluation and assessment, institutional research, the management of specific academic programs, efforts focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and strategic planning. Jamie has been a faculty member in Educational Studies at HWS for 21 years. Her teaching and scholarship focus on issues of gender and gender identity in higher education, educational leadership, environmental sustainability, and diversity and inclusion.

Speakers

Graciela Cain (they/them) is an AfroLatinx, Non-binary, and Queer transdisciplinary artist. They are currently occupying space in Muscogee Creek Land, also known as Atlanta, GA. They are currently a senior in Africana Studies at Georgia State University. They engage with their work as an extension of cultural organizing for the liberation of Black and marginalized people.  The needs of the community continuously inspire Graciela’s work as a musician, collage artist, and sound healer. They are on a constant exploration to connect their art through the medium of curated communal gatherings, whether it be through a dance floor or book store.  Graciela’s comrades and friends inspire them and see community as an integral part of their work. Graciela practices conjuring safe spaces for themselves and others, while also giving thanks to ancestral people that occupied the land before them. Graciela is a Point Foundation BIPOC Scholar.

Javier Franco (he/him)is a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature candidate in the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston. His current dissertation project focuses on the correlation between machismo and trauma through the representation of drag queens in 20th and 21st-century Mexican and Mexican-American literature and culture. Javier is a Point Foundation BIPOC Scholar.

Dr. Lori Messinger (she/her) currently serves as Professor and Dean of the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She has more than 20 years of progressive leadership in both research and comprehensive public universities in Kansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Prior to her administrative roles, she was on faculty at the University of Alabama and North Carolina State University. Dr. Messinger’s scholarship focuses on culturally responsive social work education and practice, with expertise in working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) clients; community planning; and change in higher education institutions. She has conducted funded research with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Lambda Legal, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and the North American Case Research Association. An award-winning teacher, Lori also has been recognized for her professional contributions by local, state, and national organizations. She is actively engaged in professional service at the national level, and her community service focuses on civil rights and social justice.

Manny Velásquez-Paredes (he/him) (MVP) was, until recently, the Director of the LGBTQ Center at the University of North Florida. He is an award-winning, experienced marketing and personal branding manager, with nearly a decade of experience working in professions focused on multicultural diversity and LGBTQ communities. He is a dynamic, bicultural and bilingual (English/Spanish) professional. Currently, MVP serves as a mentor on the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of Prospanica, where he also held the positions of Marketing VP, Executive Vice President and President. MVP has also served on the MBA Advisory Board for Monroe College in New York, and was honored by Latino Leaders Magazine chosen as one of the Top 25 Latino Leaders in New York. He was the first recipient of the NLGJA (National LGBTQ Journalists Association) Excellence in Travel Writing and was also awarded the Empire Star Public Service Award for his work within the Hispanic and LGBTQ Community, chosen among thousands of finalists within New York State and awarded by Governor Cuomo.