LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board

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LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board

The Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME)'s LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board (LAB) provides a space for LGBTQIAP+ advocates in the WPI community to join together to strategize and inform Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and ODIME programs and services to better serve our LGBTQIAP+ students.
Through recurring meetings, the LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board outlines current challenges, leads various initiatives, provides current knowledge, critical thinking, and analysis to institutional decision-makers.
If you have any questions regarding the LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board, or would like to learn more about our efforts please email diversity@wpi.edu.
CONTACT
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education (ODIME)
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609
Phone: 508-831-5796
Fax: 508-831-5818

Mission & Vision

Mission

We are dedicated to establishing and maintaining a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment for LGBTQIAP+ students, staff, and faculty at WPI. Our mission involves serving as a resource for the WPI community, creating visibility for the needs of the LGBTQIAP+ community, fostering a strong sense of community and belonging, and developing meaningful programming.

Vision

  1. This board works to ensure that WPI fosters a brave, safe, inclusive, and equitable environment for LGBTQIAP+ individuals and promotes a strong sense of community with easily accessible resources and accurate information. 
  2. The board actively strives to improve the retention of LGBTQIAP+ students, staff, and faculty, amplify student advocacy efforts, and ensure the larger campus community is aware of our presence. 

LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Board (LAB) Members

Lindsay Davis
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Humanities & Arts

Phone: +1 (508) 8316368

I am a broadly trained interdisciplinary scholar of 19th and 20th American history and critical feminist studies. Along with Dr. Rebecca Moody, I serve as the co-founder and co-director of the Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies (GSWS) program. My scholarly and pedagogical interests vary widely, ranging from reproductive justice to sexual harassment law to the intersection of feminist theory and STEM. In the classroom, I teach a variety of history courses on late 19th and 20th century American social, cultural, and legal history, including "Race, Gender, and the Law," "Introduction to US ...

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Elizabeth Dufresne
Strategic Collaborations & Web Communications Librarian, George C. Gordon Library

Phone: +1 (508) 8316523

Liz is a Special Projects Librarian working on initiatives in Sustainability Data and Scholarly Communication. In support of a special one-year collaborative project, Liz is conducting a self-study of WPI's contributions to and impact on UN SDGs. Liz also supports a pilot program to provide simple but effective library support to faculty in updating and adding information to their WPI faculty profiles. Check out our Sustainability eBook Collection: Mapped to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this collection enables students and researchers to ...

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Elizabeth Hambleton
Research & Instruction Librarian, George C. Gordon Library

Phone: +1 (508) 8315638

Dr. Elizabeth Hambleton is a Research & Instruction Librarian in the Gordon Library. She provides research assistance and instructional support to all library users. Her primary interests in the field of library science include UI/UX and accessibility, especially in digital spaces. She has published articles and book chapters on ludomusicology. In addition to providing broad support to students and faculty in their scholarly pursuits, she is revamping LibGuides, Canvas pages, and other asynchronous research aids and tutorials to support education in and out of the classroom at WPI.

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Riky Hanlan
Associate Director, Career Services Assessment & Inclusion, Career Development Center

Phone: +1 (508) 8316448

Pronouns: she/theyRiky educates students, alumni, and members of the WPI community on a wide range of career related topics through data-driven and equity-informed lenses. Riky also leads the efforts in collecting, processing, and reporting of First Destination Outcomes in accordance with the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), ensures support of our various identities and populations, and guides the HCDC marketing & communication strategy. Though Riky joined the Career Services team in 2016, she has been at WPI since 2010. Prior to her work in the Heebner Career ...

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Rebecca Moody
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Humanities & Arts

Phone: +1 (508) 8315079

My research centers around religion in North Africa and the Middle East with a focus on Islam; I approach the study of Islam through its representation in visual culture. My first book project, an outgrowth of my dissertation, focuses on recent fiction film by Moroccan women filmmakers as oblique forms of resistance to dominant narratives about Muslim women. My research tends to be very interdisciplinary: I draw on religion, cultural studies, feminist theory, film theory and affect theory. I hope that, in doing so, I can help introduce diversity into conversations about Islam, particularly the ...

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Paige Wilkins
Head, Library Research & Instruction Services, George C. Gordon Library

Phone: +1 (508) 8314958

 Paige provides leadership, mentoring, collaborative vision and strategic direction for the library’s core student and faculty instruction and research and project support services. She/her/hers.

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Anne Ogilvie
Director, Team Learning, The Global School

Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4944

 Projects are the reason I came to WPI. As a longtime experiential educator and true believer in the transformational power of hands-on learning, I was eager to engage with faculty and students as part of WPI’s project-based curriculum. In my former role leading WPI’s Global Projects Program, I watched teams come together, start projects, learn new things and new ways of working together, travel to our project centers, sometimes have to change their approach, sometimes struggle, and almost always accomplish things they never thought possible at the start of the project.  As the ...

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Emily Perlow
Assistant Vice President & Dean of Students, Dean of Students

Phone: +1 (508) 8315060

The holistic WPI experience, both inside and outside the classroom, is a phenomenal learning laboratory that can prepare students for their future lives as leaders and citizens. At WPI, students have the opportunity to take risks, try new skills and opportunities, and to learn from them. The spirit of collaboration, value for student input, and culture of innovation makes WPI a place where students can build meaningful relationships with students, faculty, and staff who share their passions and interests. I am committed to ensuring that students make meaning of their curricular and ...

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Ben Pollard
Assistant Teaching Professor, Physics

Phone: +1 (508) 8315527

Dr. Pollard's research focuses on teaching and learning in physics laboratory courses. He is also involved in community building and organization to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in STEM, including as a core organizer in The Access Network. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Heather Lewandowski and the Physics Education Research group at the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Elisabeth Stoddard
Associate Professor of Teaching, The Global School

Phone: +1 (508) 8314871

Prof Stoddard is a human-environment geographer who is interested in the intersection of nature, society, and justice, particularly in the context of climate change. She looks at the ways in which we can design for climate resilience, in terms of infrastructure, location specific practices, and through community resilience. Stoddard also looks at the vulnerability and resilience of food systems to disasters (climate, disease outbreaks, etc.), and the impacts for humans, animals, and ecosystems. She looks at the ways in which technology, policies, and social movements ...

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Carissa Durfee
Assistant Dean of Students, Dean of Students

Phone: +1 (508) 8315800

Carissa's work focuses on helping students thrive in their communities. Through CARE, the Student Activities Office, and the Rubin Campus Center students can seek individual support they need for success, find organizations and events to build their communities, grow in their interests & knowledge, and gather with other members of WPI.With over 20 years of experience in higher education, Carissa has expertise in facilitating smooth transitions to campus, enhancing leadership skills, and fostering community development. She believes that recognizing and valuing the multiple identities and ...

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