The University of Vermont will host “Points of Influence: LGBTQ Students, Social Change, and You,” a day-long institute designed to connect colleagues across the Northeast to discuss emerging trends and issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) student services. The event, led and organized by the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and the LGBTQA Center@UVM will be held on Friday, July 11, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., based in the Davis Center Grand Maple Ballroom.  

The intensive program, beginning with a plenary presentation, “Connecting Education, Student Activism, and State & National Policy,” will be followed by a slate of roundtable discussions and breakout sessions looking at a diverse range of topics from supporting queer students of color to inclusivity in athletics to transgender healthcare. The day will close with a reception and social networking opportunity in the Aiken solarium.

Among many prominent speakers and discussion leaders is distinguished guest Richard Lusimbo, research manager at Sexual Minorities Uganda and leader of the Africa-based research team for the Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights Project, which examines the effects of criminalizing sexual orientations and ways in which human rights groups and LGBT organizations can resist such actions.

The opening plenary, moderated by Dorothea Brauer, director of UVM’s LGBTQA Center, will also include Vermont House Representatives Bill Lippert and Kesha Ram, as well as Raja Bhattar, director of the LGBT resource center at UCLA.

The event is co-sponsored by the College of Medicine's Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Middlebury College. Late registration is available online and on-site for $150.

Full program details, speaker bios and visitor information are available here.