our Team
Leadership
Jason C. Garvey
(he/him/his)
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Executive Director, Office of Institutional Research and Assessment
Friedman-Hipps Green and Gold Professor of Education
University of VermontDr. Jason C. Garvey (he/him/his) is the Executive Director for the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment and the Friedman-Hipps Green and Gold Professor of Education. As an interdisciplinary researcher, he uses his expertise in student success, teaching and learning, education policy, and statistics to merge data-informed decision making with social change and impact in higher education.
Dr. Garvey is the Principal Investigator for QTPiE: Queer and Trans People in Education, a multi-institutional research team with a mission to educate, advocate, and build coalitions that advance equitable policies and practices for queer and trans people in education. He is a 2024 Senior Scholar with ACPA: College Student Educators International and a 2023 Fulbright Scholar with the British Library in the United Kingdom. Dr. Garvey received his PhD in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Maryland with a certificate in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation.
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Mario I. Suárez
(he/him/él)
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Associate Professor,
School of Teacher Education and Leadership,
Utah State UniversityDr. Suárez is an Assistant Professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership in the Emma E. Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University. Informed by his experiences as a former high school mathematics teacher and an openly trans man, Mario’s intersectional research agenda broadly asks: How does our understanding(s) of gender and sexuality shape K-12 educational experiences (e.g., standards, curriculum, bathrooms, group placements, sports, STEM, teachers and teaching) for minoritized (e.g., BIPOC, trans, non-binary) students? He tries to answer this question through a primarily critical quantitative lens using nationally representative data, though he also draws on qualitative methods when large data is not available. His most recent work challenges notions of how trans and non-binary youth identities are measured in large-scale surveys used in education research. His work draws from the fields of sociology, demography, gender studies, and policy studies. He received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University with a certificate in Education & Social Sciences Advanced Research Methods (Quantitative).
Mario has been working with both Jay and Dolan for over 2 years and has found amazing friendships with them, which he is extremely grateful for. As a trans Latinx junior scholar doing queer and trans research in K-12 education, he hopes to continue finding community with other queer and trans scholars, as well as pay forward all the opportunities and support he has received throughout his career.
Dr. Suárez is very excited to lead the Emerging Scholars fellows this summer 2023 because he hopes to be able to contribute to expanding the number of critical queer researchers doing this QT work in K-12 contexts. He hopes to be a resource as a former high school AP statistics teacher who has used a myriad of pedagogical strategies to support students learning statistical analyses and interpretations.
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C. V. Dolan
(they/them/theirs)
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Postdoctoral Researcher
Office of Institutional Research & Assessment,
University of VermontDolan (they/them/theirs) a 2024 graduate of the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Vermont. Their dissertation research focus is nonbinary BIPOC college students’ freedom dreams of gender utopia in a post-secondary landscape. Dolan is an aspiring mixed methodologist with the long-term goal of serving as a tenure-track faculty in a HESA graduate program upon completing their doctoral degree in 2023. Following their M.Ed. in HESA at UVM in 2013, Dolan worked for six years as a QT resource professional on college campuses. Dolan also served on a national board as the Trans and Genderqueer Chair for the Consortium of LGBT Resource Professionals in Higher Education, in addition to local community organizing.
Dolan is immensely grateful for Jay’s mentorship as their advisor, and they feel very blessed to co-author with Jay and co-teach with him in the HESA program. Dolan’s identities as a nonbinary and bisexual queer person motivate their scholarship, as they recognize gaps in data collection and identify opportunities for more attuned data analysis when cisgender scholars study trans and nonbinary communities and interpret their findings through cisnormative lenses. Dolan is also a white and Latinx person who navigates the complexities of being seen, recognized, or misinterpreted in their identities and the nuances of fluidity for their race, gender, and sexuality. Epistemologically and ontologically, Dolan values critical race theory, intersectionality, and indigenous paradigms. Specifically, they feel obligated to center the most marginalized and consistently seek to de-center dominance in their teaching, research, and practice. In these ways, Dolan defines, approaches, and works toward collective queer and trans educational liberation.
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Scholars & Grantees
Amanda Davis Simpfenderfer
(she/they)
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Assistant Professor, Education, Policy, Planning, and Leadership, School of Education at William and Mary
Amanda (she/they) is an Assistant Professor in the Education, Policy, Planning, and Leadership department in the School of Education at William and Mary. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from University of Vermont, and previously they served as the Director of Assessment, Data, and Accreditation for the College of Education and Social Services. Amanda’s research foci includes issues of access and equity within higher education. She is an aspiring critical quantitative research methodologist interested in how quantitative methods can be used as a tool equity and justice rather than oppression.
Amanda has previously worked with Jay on research around campus climate and residential living for queer and trans students and has been lucky to have Jay as their faculty advisor for her dissertation. They are hoping to continue to build on her research skills by working with the research team and contributing to scholarship that uplifts QTPiE’s.
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Christopher J.P. Sewell
(he/him/his)
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Dean of the Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb Honors Program, Associate Professor, Talladega College
Christopher Sewell is the Dean of the Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb Honors Program and Associate Professor of Education and Humanities at Talladega College. Previously, he was Associate Dean of Students and Dean of First-Year Students at Williams College and as Curriculum Manager at Praxis Labs. He has worked across the educational spectrum. His scholarship focuses on the experiences of gifted students of color with college access, the transition to college, and the experiences of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions. Dr. Sewell serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of African American Males in Education (JAAME). He has previously served as the Program Chair for the Multicultural/Multiethnic Education SIG. He earned his Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University, Master of Science in Education from UPenn, Master of Arts in Afro-American Studies from UCLA, and Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and History from Williams College.
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Daniel Wilson
(he/him)
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Ph.D. student, Policy Studies in Urban Education, University of Illinois Chicago
Daniel Wilson is a Ph.D. student in the Policy Studies in Urban Education (Social Foundations) program at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he also works full-time in student affairs assessment. His research interests center around queer and trans student activism and queer school abolition. Outside of work and school, he enjoys bonding with his dog, trying new recipes, and pursuing an amateur career in stand-up comedy. Prior to attending UIC, he got his M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration at Vanderbilt University and his B.S. in Biology at St. Norbert College.
He is thrilled to be joining the QTPiE team as an emerging scholar this summer. Particularly, he is excited to learn and grow alongside the rest of the team and deepen his skills as a quantitative researcher in the pursuit for queer and trans educational liberation.
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Quortne Hutchings
(they/them)
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Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University
Quortne R. Hutchings (they, them) is a first-generation college graduate, proud Ronald E. McNair scholar alum, and assistant professor of higher education at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Hutchings has over nine years of higher education professional experience in academic advising, orientation, multicultural affairs, TRiO programs, and leadership development. Dr. Hutchings holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago, an M.Ed. in Education, Organization, and Leadership, with a concentration in Higher Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and a B.A. in African and African-American Studies, minors in Sociology and Human Development & Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Hutchings’s research primarily focuses on Black gay, bisexual, queer, and non-binary undergraduate and graduate students’ academic and social experiences in higher education, student affairs professionals’ experiences in student and academic affairs, utilizing gender and sexuality studies, intersectionality, and critical qualitative methodologies (e.g., queer phenomenology, arts-based research, and collaborative autoethnography). Quortne’s current work utilizes podcasting as a method and analytic approach to exploring Black gay, bisexual, and queer men’s experiences in men of color and Black male initiative (BMI) programs at higher education institutions. Their research has been published in the Journal of Autoethnography, International Journal of STEM Education, Journal of Critical Scholarship in Higher Education and Student Affairs, and International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. -
Danielle N. Aguilar
(she/her/hers)
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PhD student, Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice Program, University of Colorado, Boulder
Danielle is a PhD student in CU Boulder’s Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice Program. Guided by critical race theory and feminist of color theories, her research intentions are to examine how girls of color intersect and are intersected by the carceral system. Danielle’s previous research has been embedded in qualitative approaches, e.g. photovoice, testimonio, interviews, and has focused on women of color student activist and LGBTQ faculty and staff of color experiences at colleges and universities. Danielle is working to develop critical quantitative skills to complement her growing knowledge of qualitative methods. Danielle aspires to be a tenure-track professor who uses critical methodological approaches and inspires and mentors marginalized students to use quantitative methods. Prior to enrolling in a PhD program, Danielle worked in residence life, orientation, multicultural and LGBTQ affairs, and pre-college support programs. Danielle holds an M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont and a B.A. in Feminist Studies and Minor in Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Danielle was born and raised in the Inland Empire of California.
Danielle is excited and grateful to be a part of the QTPiE Emerging Scholars Program. Danielle joined QTPiE to develop queered quantitative methodologies and perspectives, and establish meaningful relationships with other critical quantitative scholars. Danielle sends gratitude to the folx who labored with love, glitter, and rainbows to establish and continue QTPiE.
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Isaac Andrew Sanders
(they/them)
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Ph.D. student, Social Work, University of Washington
Isaac Andrew Sanders (they/them) received their BA from the University of Tulsa and their MSW from the University of Kansas. Sanders grew up as a military brat with firm familial roots in Kansas & Oklahoma. An afro-indigenous two spirit non-binary person, affiliated with the Muskogee tribe, Sanders’ work is influenced by their lived experience and devotion to equity. Sanders is interested in youth homelessness, its disproportionate impact on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC young people, and ways to bring the homelessness response system into the 21st century. Sanders has worked, primarily, in the youth homelessness field. Sanders has led multiple counties in Washington to functionally reduce their active youth homeless population. An expert in positive youth development strategy, Sanders has worked with youth and young adults to impact governmental and local change through empowering young adults to advocate for change while demanding providers listen. Sanders has also co-authored two published articles, one being academic poems, focusing on the experiences of rural trans/ gender non-conforming youth. -
Jude Paul Matias Dizon
(he/him/his)
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Assistant Professor, California State University, East Bay
Jude Paul Matias Dizon, Ph.D. (he/him/siya) is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at California State University, East Bay. Jude Paul's research agenda focuses on (1) the relationship between higher education and the carceral state; (2) equity-minded leadership and organization; and (3) race-conscious student development. Professionally, Jude Paul has held student affairs roles focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, he has consulted for higher education leaders in strategic planning for DEI. He has also been a faculty member at CSU Stanislaus and Rutgers University. Jude Paul is a first-generation faculty member from a Filipino immigrant working-class family in Union City, California. He holds a doctorate in urban education policy from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in higher education and student affairs administration from the University of Vermont. -
Quan Phan
(he/him)
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Doctoral Candidate, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Adult & Higher Education, The University of Oklahoma
Quan Phan (he/him) is a doctoral candidate in the Adult & Higher Education program at the University of Oklahoma. Additionally, he holds the position of LGBTQ+ Program Coordinator at the Gender + Equality Center within the same institution. As a dedicated scholar-practitioner in the realm of student affairs, his focus encompasses student success, curricular approaches, and social justice education. His ongoing research delves into LGBTQ+ community spaces and the cultivation of queer/trans worldmaking within the higher education context. As a queer international scholar-practitioner, Phan joins QTPiE with the aim of further exploring and comprehending the intricate relationships and responsibilities between the LGBTQ+ community and higher education institutions. His work also seeks to unravel the implications of these dynamics for policies and practices in the field of Student Affairs. -
Taylor R. Lewis
(he/him)
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Ph.D. student, Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan
Taylor Lewis (he/him) is a Black trans scholar of West Indian heritage. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. Taylor’s research broadly explores race and racism, particularly Blackness and Anti-Blackness in higher education contexts through an intersectional lens with an emphasis on campus safety, resistance, activism, political power, life-making, and liberatory futures. Through his writing and research, he aspires to illuminate the margins of the margins and in the words of bell hooks, invite others into a “place of sanctuary in theorizing,” as we imagine theory as a “healing place.”
I’m interested in quantitative research, because the large sample sizes we can draw our analysis from tells a story in itself about the presence and existence of queer and trans people in higher education. I joined QTPiE, because this was the first opportunity for me to incorporate a critical lens in quantitative research methods and disrupt dominant paradigms in a community of scholars who are asking important questions that pushes our field forward. In academia, you can feel like “the only one,” questioning your intellectual abilities and belonging in these spaces, but QTPiE represented a life-affirming community that I wanted to take part in. -
Lorae Bonamy-Lohve
(she/her/hers)
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Ph.D. Candidate, Higher Education, Student Affairs and International Education Policy Program, University of Maryland
Lorae V. Bonamy-Lohve (she/her/hers) is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy program at the University of Maryland. She is also a 2022-2026 Point Foundation Flagship Scholar. Her research interests include racialized religious oppression, racialized heterosexism, racialized cisgenderism, student organizations, and inclusive campus environments. Lorae’s long-term career goal is to work as a faculty member in a Higher Education/Student Affairs graduate program, and the goal of her work is for queer people of color and faith to be fully loved in families, faith communities, and institutions of higher education.
Lorae is oriented to the world as a qualitative scholar and human scientist, and her dissertation project is a phenomenological inquiry into the lived/living experiences of Black queer Christian college students. Since receiving her Master’s degree in Higher Education Counseling from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Lorae has been employed full-time at the University of Maryland in various roles within the Division of Student Affairs. As a scholar and practitioner, Loraeuses an epistemology of love and pedagogies of resistance to blaze paths toward more inclusive environments for marginalized and minoritized students. In practice, this means problematizingsoulless systems of schooling that focus primarily on intellect and exchanging them for pedagogies that center community, individual empathic relationships, and cultivating the heart.
Lorae was initially drawn to QTPIE because of the focus on queer and trans people, but she remains connected because of the amazing people on the team and the opportunity to work alongside passionate scholars on important issues. -
C.M. Metcalfe
(they/them)
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Ph.D. student, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Florida State University
C.M. Metcalfe (they/them) is a Ph.D. student in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies department focusing on Higher Education at Florida State University. Their research interests center on student decision-making as they navigate postsecondary education and the workforce after high school. Currently, they work on several grants focused on Career and Technical Education as well as dual enrollment. Prior to their doctoral studies, C.M. received their B.A. from the University of South Carolina and M.Ed. from Salem State University. They spent eight years working in student affairs including conduct, residence life, and precollege programs where they focused on creating inclusive spaces and equitable access for diverse students.
C.M. was drawn to the QTPiE Emerging Scholars program in hopes of joining a community of like-minded individuals committed to educational liberation for queer and trans students.
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Roberto C. Orozco
(he/him/él)
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Roberto C. Orozco (he/him/él) is a Presidential Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. His research explores questions around race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality with relation to college student activism and student development, queer resistance and queer worldmaking in and outside of higher education contexts. He grounds his work at the intersection of Jotería Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Chicana Latina Feminisms to examine the identity and socio-political consciousness of queer Latinx/a/o student activists in higher education. He is particularly interested in how queer Latinx/a/o college students engage in forms of resistance that allow for self-development and consciousness raising while building queer kinships and material possibilities rooted in community. -
William Shelton
(he/him/his)
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Ph.D. student, Urban Education, City University of New York (CUNY)
William Shelton (he/him/his) is a Black Queer educator, writer, and community activist from West Philadelphia. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Education at The CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Will’s research examines how the intersections of race, place, and education impact the educational and emotional outcomes of Black and Brown boys, including those that identify on the LGBTQ spectrum. By addressing literacy and School-To-Prison-Pipeline policies and practices, he hopes to dismantle eurocentric narratives in education in order to uplift, affirm, and protect queer and youth of color. His ethnographic and narrative writing research is grounded in critical race theory, queer feminism, humanizing, and abolitionist pedagogies. Will previously taught elementary and secondary ELA classes and served as Dean of Culture before beginning his doctoral journey. He has been published in several media outlets, including The Philadelphia Gay Newspaper and The New Teacher’s Project.
Will is excited to join QTPiE as an Emerging Scholar. He is devoted and passionate about creating safe and healing spaces for queer youth and college-age students. QTPiE will provide me with skills and knowledge to enhance my research. He is excited to learn more about quantitative methods and how to apply such techniques to my ethnographic and narrative research and writing style. -
Benjamin A. Lebovitz
(they/he)
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Ph.D. Student, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Research: Supporting Trans Youth in Wisconsin Schools: How Caregivers Utilize Community Resources for Affirming K-12 School Experiences
Ben Lebovitz (they/he) is a doctoral student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and an Institute for Education Sciences predoctoral program fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to beginning their doctoral studies, Ben taught high school choir and advised a gender and sexuality alliance (GSA) in southern Arizona.
Ben uses mixed methods to examine the role of K-12 school policies in contributing to the well-being of queer and trans youth. Their personal, professional, and academic experiences shape recognition of the importance of engaging with students and their families, the role of school administrators, and the strength of community organizations in supporting LGBTQ+ youth. These values inform their scholarship and advocacy for educational opportunities supporting queer and trans youth through translational education policy research.
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Dion Harry
(he/him/his)
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Assistant Professor, Higher Education and Student Affairs, Oklahoma State University
Dion T. Harry, Ph.D. (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University. Dions research explores factors that impact college student success and well-being, primarily focusing on queer and trans students of color, broadening participation in STEM education, and students at community and technical colleges. He earned his doctorate from North Carolina State Universitys Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development program, with a concentration in Higher Education Opportunity, Equity, and Justice. He also has bachelors and masters degrees from Clemson University in Health Science (BS) and Counselor Education/Student Affairs (M.Ed.).
Dion joined QTPiE as a Black Quare Scholar with the opportunity to dive deeper into research centered on the experiences and well-being of Black queer and trans populations in higher education. Furthermore, Dion joined QTPiE as an opportunity to (1) enhance his own skills as a researcher and (2) to be in a community with scholars who are devoted to enhancing the experiences of queer and trans people within education!
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Jenny Sperling
(she/they)
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Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Critical Studies in Education, The University of Oklahoma
Jenny Sperling (she/they) is an assistant professor of critical studies in education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, Jenny completed her Ph.D. in Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jenny’s research interests include sexual(ity) health education across different educational contexts – with recent work centering young college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive postsecondary education programs – K-12 educational practices and policies and their effects on 2SLGBTQIA+ youth communities and experiences, critical ethnographic and intersectional qualitative inquiry, and care-centered community collaborations. -
Madison Fitzgerald-Russell
(she/they)
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Lecturer, University of Detroit Mercy
Dr. Madison Fitzgerald-Russell (she/they) is a Physics lecturer with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of Detroit Mercy, where they are continuing the work they've begun as a grad student and a postdoc. Prior to joining UDM in fall 2025, she worked with the (originally) HHMI-funded Learning Community Cluster 2 on inclusive STEM education in higher education, which renamed itself the SCIENCE Collaborative. She graduated in 2022 with a Ph.D. in Science Education: Physics from Western Michigan University, and her dissertation qualitatively explored the experiences and perceptions of queer and trans science-major undergraduate students through a queer theory lens. Their research goals include creating spaces for inclusion in and expanding equity of STEM education for marginalized folks in both K12 and higher education, focusing on queer and trans folks. Her discipline focus is physics and astronomy, and she has a background teaching physics, astronomy, physical science, chemistry and mathematics.Dr. Fitzgerald-Russell has been involved in efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in STEM, including serving on three conference organizing committees (CUWiP @ WMU 2022, PERC 2022: Queering physics education, and PRIMSATIC) and as a panelist for workshops (LGBTQIA Panel for CUWiP 2022 and 2023). They are also involved with the TM-PICC survey team, which developed a model for understanding instructional change team collaborations and created a survey utilizing that model.
In her free time, Dr. Fitzgerald-Russell can be found reading (physical books, ebooks and audiobooks), knitting, watercolor painting, spending time with her cats and family and watching cooking competition shows. They also love horror audio drama podcasts, 2010s investigative drama TV shows and Agatha Christie mysteries.
She was a QTPiE (Queer and Trans People in Education) Emerging Scholar in 2023 and remains connected to the incredible network of other queer and trans scholars in K12 and higher education. They are involved in upcoming projects with QTPiE related to queer theory, asexuality, and QT in STEM. They love the joy, vibrancy, and support of QTPiE!
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Pearl Lo
(she/her/hers)
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Ph.D. student, Higher Education, Student Affairs & International Education Policy, University of Maryland, College Park
Pearl Lo (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Higher Education, Student Affairs & International Education Policy program with a concentration in Student Affairs. In addition to being a full-time student, Pearl is also a Research Assistant for UMD’s Department of Resident Life Research Division and the Graduate Assistant for the Student Affairs Concentration in the College of Education. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked in various areas of student affairs including resident life, fraternity and sorority life, and student programming and advising. Pearl has two primary research interests– 1. Cross-racial interactions and friendship groups, particularly between Asian American students and their peers of color, how Asian American students navigate anti-Blackness, and Asian American racialization on college campuses. 2. The experiences and psychosocial development of LGBTQ+ women and trans students of color, navigating queerness in Asian America, and intersectional queer affirming spaces on campuses. She uses a mixed methods approach to conducting her research and hopes to apply a critical quantitative lens as well.
Pearl was thrilled when she saw the opportunity to work with QTPiE because she had long been searching for a community of scholars who focus on queer and trans students in higher education, especially through an intersectional and critical quantitative lens. In addition to enhancing her quantitative skills, she eagerly looks forward to developing connections with other like-minded folx with whom she can collaborate to advance queer and trans educational liberation.Dr. Garvey is the Principal Investigator for QTPiE: Queer and Trans People in Education, a multi-institutional research team with a mission to educate, advocate, and build coalitions that advance equitable policies and practices for queer and trans people in education. He is a 2024 Senior Scholar with ACPA: College Student Educators International and a 2023 Fulbright Scholar with the British Library in the United Kingdom. Dr. Garvey received his PhD in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Maryland with a certificate in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation.
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Shae Large
(she/her)
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Ph.D. student, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Shae Large (she/her) is a Ph.D. student at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program with a concentration in Higher Education. Her research interests focus on the practice of pronoun sharing through a demographic lens. Shae is originally from Corpus Christi, TX, and has a Bachelor’s (B.A.) in Psychology from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a Master’s (M.Ed.) in Higher Education Administration from UTSA. Shae also works full-time at UTSA as a catalog editor and enrollment reporter. Shae is looking forward to working as a Summer QTPiE Emerging Scholar and engaging with a community of queer quantitative peers. -
Xavier Fields
(he/him)
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Graduate Student in Sociology and Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Research: Teacher Resistance and Compliance with Laws Mandating the Outing of Transgender Students in K-12 Schools
Xavier is a joint doctoral student in Sociology and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His broad research interests are gender, law, organizations, schooling, and culture. He brings these topics together to investigate how legal and organizational structures impact gender construction in schools. He is interested in how static identity categories used in state-level policy come into conflict with more fluid and intangible experiences of identity. His current project uses interview methods to study how Iowa teachers respond to laws mandating the outing of transgender students, using classroom gender policing to explore everyday forms of legal resistance and compliance. -
Kristopher Oliveira
(he/him)
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Director, UMD LGBTQ+ Equity Center, University of Maryland
Kristopher Oliveira, PhD (he/him) is the Director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a faculty affiliate in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. An education sociologist and seasoned higher education leader, Kristopher has directed LGBTQ+ centers at Princeton University, the University of Kansas, and St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. His research explores Queer and Trans (QT) resource centers, QT workers in the current sociopolitical climate, and the experiences of Black and Queer professionals in higher ed. He currently serves as Practitioner-in-Residence for American College Personnel Association’s Coalition for Sexuality and Gender Identities (CSGI), and has previously been an active leader and volunteer with the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, the Trevor Project, and the Human Rights Campaign. When he's not doing QT higher education research and praxis, he's obsessing over all things Oz, traveling, and spending time with his husband, Alfredo, and their chihuahua, Scooby Doo.
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Animesh Paul
(he/they)
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PhD Candidate, Engineering Education and Transformative Practices, University of Georgia
Animesh Paul is a PhD candidate in Engineering with an emphasis on Engineering Education and Transformative Practices at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on broadening participation and advancing student success in engineering, with particular attention to how students navigate educational and professional transitions. Born and raised in India, Animesh brings a global perspective to engineering education. He employs qualitative and arts-based methods to examine the experiences of stakeholders and learners in engineering classrooms. Animesh currently serves as the Vice President of Projects and Programs at oSTEM and is the 2024–2025 Student Division Program Chair for American Society for Engineering Education. He brings a background in electrical engineering, data analytics, and workforce development to his research and community engagement. -
Roman Christiaens
(they/she)
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Independent Scholar
Roman Christiaens is a higher education scholar-practitioner whose research agenda interrogates institutional investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), such as institutional policy, programming and practitioners, by studying how whiteness, racism, genderism and heterosexism manifest through these investments. Roman's research has also been particularly invested in exploring the intersections of rurality, transfemininity, and queerness in education. Their work has been published in the Journal for Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of Research in Rural Education, Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, and the Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) journal.
Roman recently earned their doctorate in Higher Education from the Center for the Study in Higher Education at the University of Arizona with a minor in Race and Gender in Education. Roman also has a bachelor's degree from Seattle University in English (B.A.) and a master's degree from Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration (HESA) program at the University of Vermont (M.Ed.). In addition to their educational background, Roman has over a decade of student affairs experience in multicultural and LGBTQ+ affairs, student activities, orientation, service and community engagement. Roman recently served as the Internal Relations Director for the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and as the Managing Editor for About Campus, ACPA's scholarly magazine.
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Arsene Frederic, Jr.
(he/him/his)
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Ph.D. student, Education Leadership and Policy Studies, Howard University
Arsene Frederic, Jr. is a 3rd-year doctoral student in the Howard University Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies program. His research focuses on STEM education, Education Policy, Workforce Diversity, and Education Equity. Arsene serves as a Graduate Assistant in the Howard University Education Leadership and Policy Studies department. Currently, he is a research associate for The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Fellowship Project, which aims to expand research funding for HBCU faculty in the Social Science and humanities disciplines.
Recognized as an Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Equity and Inclusion Fellow in 2020, Arsene’s accomplishments also include successfully completing the grant and fellowship writing micro-credential from the Howard University Graduate School. This achievement significantly contributes to his research aspirations. Before pursuing academia, Arsene gained experience in public sector roles with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Prince George County Public Schools, New Orleans Public Schools, and on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Congressional Fellow.
Arsene embraces his African American and Haitian cultural identities. As a scholar-practitioner, he is deeply committed to leveraging his background to promote evidence-based decision-making through collaborative research partnerships. He eagerly participates in the QTPiE Emerging Scholars Program to advance quantitative scholarship that sheds light on degree completion challenges faced by queer and trans minority students in STEM.
Arsene holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree with a concentration in Public Financial Management from the American University School of Public Affairs. He completed his bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in education from Florida State University.
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Oscar E. Hughes
(he/him/his)
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Postdoctoral researcher, University of Massachusetts Boston
Oscar E. Hughes started his career as a teacher of high school and transition-age students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Now, he partners with LGBTQ+ researchers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to conduct participatory action research to support gender and sexual self-expression. He also trains teachers to work with students with disabilities and leads professional development on supporting healthy sexuality for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at UMass Boston studying neurodiversity-affirming practices to support autistic students in elementary schools. -
Pauline Bosma
(she/her/hers)
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Founder and Coordinator of the Rainbow Support Groups, Mass Advocates Standing Strong
Pauline Bosma is the founder and coordinator of the Rainbow Support Groups of MA, a network of support groups for LGBTQ+ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pauline identifies as a transgender woman with an intellectual disability. She has extensive experience offering training and presentations on sex education and issues related to the LGBTQ+ and disability communities. Pauline wrote a free online guidebook about the lives of LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, which you can read online at RainbowGuidebook.com. She works for the self-advocacy organization Mass Advocates Standing Strong, where she assists Rainbow Support Groups around the country, leads sex education webinars, works on the Awareness & Action peer-to-peer training to help people with disabilities recognize, respond to, and report abuse and she works with the Mass Rights for Change project to develop a program to support people with disabilities who have survived sexual abuse. -
Carlos A. Fitch
(he/him/él)
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Carlos A. Fitch (he/him/él)
Ph.D. Student
University of California, Santa Barbara
"Un Regreso de Colores al Alma y Cuerpo: A Critical Race Body Mapping Analysis of Jotería Students Impacted by Immigration Rhetoric and Policy."
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Quinn Solis
(they/them/elle)
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Quinn Solis (they/them/elle)
Director of LGBT Resources for the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity
University of California, Santa Barbara
“Un Regreso de Colores al Alma y Cuerpo: A Critical Race Body Mapping Analysis of Jotería Students Impacted by Immigration Rhetoric and Policy”
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Fatemeh Gharibi
(they/them)
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Fatemeh Gharibi (they/them)
PhD candidate, Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies
York University, Canada
“Queer International Students' Activism, Advocacy, and Political Engagement in Canada”
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Melinda Mangin
(she/her)
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Melinda M. Mangin (she/her)
Professor of Education
Rutgers University
"The High Stakes of International Relocation for Trans Children Fleeing Anti-Trans Policies"
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LJ Shackleford
(she/they)
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LJ Shackleford (she/they)
Doctoral Candidate, Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education
Michigan State University
LJ Shackleford (she/they) is a doctoral candidate in the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education program at Michigan State University. Before becoming a Spartan, LJ earned a master's degree in educational leadership with a graduate certificate in Academic Advising from Eastern Michigan University. As a scholar-practitioner, LJ brings extensive experience in career development, DEI climate analysis, program evaluation, and equity-focused student success programming across multiple institutions.
Their dissertation examines the impact of work-related sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) harassment on LGBTQ+ staff in higher education — exploring how SOGI-based harassment mediates institutional climate and shapes outcomes including retention, advancement, and job satisfaction. Engaged with QuantCrit frameworks, LJ approaches quantitative methods as a site of critical intervention: rejecting the neutrality of numbers and centering the experiences of QTBIPOC communities.
LJ joined QTPiE to develop the mixed-methods expertise needed to pursue these questions at scale, in a community where queer positionality is understood as a strength.
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Brandon Bakka
(he/they)
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Engineering Education
University of Nebraska - LincolnBrandon Bakka (He/They) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a focus on engineering education, at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. He received his B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His dissertation work focused on understanding the experiences and pathways of LGBTQ+ engineering students at both the graduate and undergraduate level using critical queer perspectives. At UNL, Brandon’s work is focused on how engineering faculty convey spatial information in the Civil Engineering classroom. Brandon is passionate about improving diversity and equity within academia for queer and trans students, particularly those at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. He has run faculty trainings, conference workshops, and mentorship programs focused on challenging the heteronormative culture of engineering. In the future, Brandon hopes to continue his research on QT students in STEM to develop evidence-based interventions and challenge the cultural norms of engineering.
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Alum
Anil Lalwani
(he/they)
Emerging Scholar 2021
Max Cordes Galbraith
(he/they)
Alum 2022
Musbah Shaheen
(he/him/his)
Alum 2023
Janelle Raymundo
(she/they)
Alum 2021
Romeo Jackson
(they/them/theirs)
Emerging Scholar 2021
Johann Robert Wood
(he/they)
Black Quare Scholar 2022
Yolanda Cataño
(she/her/ella)
QT People @ MSIs Scholar 2023
benjamin lee hicks
(they/them/theirs)
Alum 2023
Ángel Gonzalez
(he/they/elle)
Emerging Scholar 2022
TJ Stewart
(he/him)
Black Quare Scholar 2022
Gabriel Rodríguez Lemus, Jr.
(he/him/his/él)
QT People @ MSIs Scholar 2023
Leslie Hall
(he/him/his)
QT People @ MSIs Scholar 2023
Giovi Kelly
(she/her)
Emerging Scholar 2024
Nick Russell
(he/him)
QT Translational Research Scholar 2025