Workshop Descriptions
The Expanding the Circle 2012 Summer Institute will enable participants from higher education to more fully integrate LGBTQ issues into the academy. This integration, while creating a more enriching and safer environment for LGBTQ constituents, will also break down some the academic silos and further the development of broad alliances among higher education faculty, staff and students. It is hoped that these experiences in higher education will create a new generation of LGBTQ leaders who have the capacity to develop supportive alliances throughout their lives.
The Institute will feature intensive, all-day workshops that are collaborative, interdisciplinary, and focused. Attendees will have the opportunity to select one workshop from a total of three to four workshops offered per day. We are currently compiling the final program schedule and will soon have that information updated on the Schedule page.
Coming Out, Coming Home: Helping Families Adjust to a Gay or Lesbian Child
The discovery that a child is gay or lesbian can send shockwaves throughout a family as long-held views about sexuality and relationships are upended, resulting in anger, resentment, and concern for safety and acceptance. However, in some families, learning that a child is gay can improve familial relationships, even if a parent reacts negatively. In describing the findings and practice implications of a qualitative, multicultural study of sixty-five gay and lesbian children and their parents, Professor LaSala will demonstrate how reciprocal family interactions can play a role in parental adjustment, and also how they can be targeted for effective intervention. Participants will learn new ways to think about family adjustment to the coming out discovery, including how children can play a role in their parents’ reactions. They will also examine the role race, ethnicity, and gender can play a role in family adjustment.
Michael LaSala, Director and Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Rutgers University
The “Fundamentals” of Engaging the Intersections of Christianity and LGBTQ Experiences in the Classroom and Beyond
Have you ever felt like talking to some Christians about LGBTQ issues is a no-win situation? Do you feel like as a LGBTQ person of faith that your voice gets dismissed or minimized? Have you experienced religion as a wedge issues between heterosexual people of color and white LGBTQ folks? Well, let’s talk about it. This day-long institute will walk you through the “fundamentals” for staying engaged in a conversation that is both honoring and challenging to all it involves, including best practices for facilitating dialogues across difference. Whether we are in the classroom or on the campus quad, this session will address how to engage and move beyond the “shut down” statements and help each of us learn better ways of coping with people who simply see it differently.
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, President, Washington Consulting Group; Founding Faculty, Social Justice Training Institute; and Assistant Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore
Queering Service Learning: Promoting Anti-Oppressive Action and Reflection*
In this half-day workshop we will learn what it means to “queer” service learning: queer as an umbrella term for the LGBT community; as a term meaning non-normative; and a verb meaning to “trouble” or raise provocative questions. All three definitions have implications for service learning. We will explore how to develop service learning projects with LGBTQ community partners in order to provide new disciplinary approaches to social science and education curriculum while also promoting civic engagement through student and community-centered research. Imagine how curriculum informed by queer perspectives can raise questions about what seems “natural,” like gay and straight or meanings of “serving” and “being served.” Participants will envision and practice “queering” their own service learning projects in order to deconstruct categories that are not necessarily dichotomous, unlearn practices that are “normal” only because they have been constructed that way, and re-interpret power relationships that are inherently or naturally unbalanced
David Donahue, Professor of Education, Mills College
*This half-day workshop is offered as part of the full-day institute with Karla Jay’s workshop, “Training the Next Generation of Activists: LGBTQ Community Outreach Courses.”
Racism and Heterosexism: Similarities and Differences*
“Gay issues are not civil rights issues, they are a choice!” “Racism and Homophobia is the same thing, I don’t understand why people of color don’t get that.” As a Latina lesbian, it’s often hard to find a community where I don’t have to be on guard”. “Being Asian and gay is who I am, but very few people know that”. “It’s because of the homophobia in the Black community that Proposition 8 passed”. Do these comments sound familiar? Have you ever felt shut down or confused in the conversation about which is worse? Do you wish that people could just see oppression as wrong regardless of its manifestation? This half day session will invite participants on a journey to understanding the similarities and difference in racism and heterosexism and how we all can work more effectively together to create a more socially just campus community.
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, President, Washington Consulting Group; Founding Faculty, Social Justice Training Institute; and Assistant Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore
*This half-day workshop is offered as part of the full-day institute with Eduardo Morales’ workshop, “Untold Histories of LGBT of Color and Their Contributions to Social Justice and Behavioral Health Interventions.”
Reframing Queerness: Lessons Learned from Transgender Studies & Transgender History
Susan Stryker, Director, Institute for LGBT Studies, and Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson
Roadmaps for Establishing and Assessing LGBTQ Studies Programs
Past Expanding the Circle conferences have encouraged participants to explore and imagine curriculum development that engages LGBTQ scholarship. This workshop seeks to take these productive conversations to another level by focusing attention on establishing and assessing LGBTQ Studies programs. The session will provide an interactive forum for discussing different curricular models as well as institution-appropriate considerations relating to developing, proposing, and assessing programs. Faculty and administrators interested in establishing LGBTQ studies on their campuses will have the opportunity to develop plans for implementation. Also welcome are those who have past experiences to share.
Kenneth G. Valente, Professor of Mathematics and Director of LGBTQ Studies, Colgate University
Strategic Planning, Environmental Scanning, and Funding Your Center: Fun or dysFUNctional?
This interactive workshop will feature two sections. The first will feature strategic planning and environmental scanning as two important tools for managers and leaders. They provide forecasting and guidance with which to create action plans for success. In addition, they offer measureable ways to justify campus work. The second section will explore how fundraising accomplishes several goals. It allows you to meet with external LGBT community, locate LGBT alums, and get your center’s name in front of your campus development office. Significant funds help to stabilize and ground your center, as a form of protection from being eliminated in this time of deep budget cuts. Understanding how fundraising works will help you move forward intentionally and smartly while building a strong financial base.
Ronni Sanlo, Professor of Higher Education and Educational Leadership, California State University, Fullerton
Theory to Practice in LGBT Campus Work
What are learning outcomes for campus LGBT work and why are they important? This workshop opens discussions of current student development theory, their application specifically to LGBT students, and ways to create learning outcomes for both students and staff. Participants will create learning outcomes for their specific settings using NASPA’s publications entitled Learning Reconsidered 1 and 2 as well as the ACPA/NASPA Competencies for the Student Affairs Profession.
Ronni Sanlo, Professor of Higher Education and Educational Leadership, California State University, Fullerton
Training the Next Generation of Activists: LGBTQ Community Outreach Courses*
This workshop will focus on the nuts and bolts of organizing a community outreach (service learning) course, including finding appropriate organizations for your students to volunteer in your community, placing them in their organizations in a timely fashion, motivating students to start their placements early in the semester or quarter, and monitoring their progress. The workshop will provide two different models for class participation in the community. It will also provide some legal advice to help protect the university, the faculty, and the students. Possible discussions will include assignments and the types of experiences students have had in community service over the years and why this high-impact form of education is so rewarding for all concerned.
Karla Jay, Distinguished Professor of English, Women’s & Gender Studies, Pace University
*This half-day workshop is offered as part of the full-day institute with David Donahue’s workshop, “Queering Service Learning: Promoting Anti-Oppressive Action and Reflection”
Untold Histories of LGBT of Color and Their Contributions to Social Justice and Behavioral Health Interventions*
This interactive half day workshop will review the untold history of LGBT People of Color (POC) and the stories surrounding key historical events critical in LGBT History. LGBT POC have stepped up to the plate and played critical roles in contributing to LGBT rights and social justice movements, but their contributions have been invisible. Past and current successful strategies, as well as lessons learned for advocacy and shaping policy will be presented and discussed.
Eduardo Morales, Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology, Alliant International University
*This half-day workshop is offered as part of the full-day institute with Jamie Washington’s workshop, “Racism and Heterosexism: Similarities and Differences”
