Welcome from the Director
Friends,
2020 has been the most challenging year that higher education has ever seen. Here at the LGBTQ+ Center we have had to radically shift the ways in which we engage with our students, faculty, and staff in order to provide our core mission of education, advocacy, and support. The fall brings a new set of challenges and unknowns, and while we are still finalizing the details of how we will continue to provide our signature programming and support, our commitment to ensuring our students’ inclusion, safety, and success remains unchanged. You can read more about the university’s plans for the fall at the Our Way Forward website, and we will update the LGBTQ+ Center website as well as our plans evolve.
In this edition of the newsletter we bring you a report on our first ever virtual Lavender Graduation, as well as exciting news about a new scholarship for incoming first year students who identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
As always, we are incredibly grateful for the support of our alumni and friends. Thanks to all of you who have reached out with messages of care and encouragement during this difficult time. We are especially appreciative of our alumni who have continued giving to the LGBTQ+ Center during the pandemic. As we face the uncertainties of the year ahead, we are grateful to have a strong community of support!
Warmly,
Angela
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Take D.E.A.C. Allies with the LGBTQ+ Center
Developing Empowering and Affirming Communities (D.E.A.C) Allies is the central platform for education and skill building offered by the LGBTQ+ Center. The D.E.A.C. Allies approach centers LGBTQ+ voices across intersections of identity and focuses on the facilitation of narrative sharing, the generation and acquisition of knowledge, and the development of practical skills for participants. For those familiar with Safe Zone, D.E.A.C. Allies is the new iteration of Safe Zone at WFU.
The move to virtual programming over the summer offers a unique opportunity to expand our offerings, and we invite our alumni and friends to join us next week for D.E.A.C. Allies: LGBTQ+ 101 and D.E.A.C. Allies: The Gender Binary and Beyond.
Interested participants can register here for LGBTQ+ 101 and here for The Gender Binary and Beyond. D.E.A.C. Allies workshops do build on one another, but you do not have to have taken LGBTQ+ 101 in order to take The Gender Binary and Beyond if you already feel comfortable with the content covered in LGBTQ+ 101. To learn more about the D.E.A.C. Allies program overall, visit our website.
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Lavender Graduation 2020
The LGBTQ+ Center celebrated our seventh annual Lavender Graduation on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. While the celebration was not what we expected when we started planning back in January, over 130 students, faculty, staff, alumni, family members, and loved ones logged on to a Zoom meeting to recognize 30 Lavender Graduates. Twenty-six members of the undergraduate and graduate classes of 2020 were publicly recognized; they represented the College, the School of Business, the School of Law, the School of Divinity, and the School of Medicine. These LGBTQ+ and ally students came together to celebrate their achievements in community with one another and the broader campus community; the unique aspect of a remote ceremony also allowed alumni and friends and family of graduates to join in the celebration.
The ceremony featured a welcome from Dr. Angela Mazaris, Assistant Vice President for Equitable Policy for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Director of the LGBTQ+ Center, then a message from President Hatch. School of Divinity graduate Alexx Andersen offered a beautiful invocation to ground celebrants together. The Center also recognized the two inaugural recipients of the LGBTQ Scholarship, Omar Benjamin and Antayzha Wiseman. Two members of the graduating class were selected to speak at Lavender Graduation; Omar Benjamin delivered an emotional thank you to many of his supporters during his tenure at WFU, and Valdes offered a speech entitled “Goodbye Living Room”, saying a heartfelt goodbye to the LGBTQ+ Center where they have found friendship, community, support, and always a comfy couch for the last four years. Following the student speeches, Lavender Graduates were recognized, and Kayla Lisenby-Denson, Assistant Director for the LGBTQ+ Center, closed the ceremony. All were invited to cheer and celebrate before the Zoom space ended.
Following the ceremony, each Lavender Graduate received a link to a Google Drive folder with notes, videos, and well wishes for them provided by friends, family, mentors, and supporters. Overall, the ceremony was different but beautiful and meaningful for the Lavender Graduates and for the community more broadly.
The LGBTQ+ Center staff received some lovely feedback from campus partners and friends:
- “That was a wonderful event! ...I wanted to send my admiration and gratitude for all of you for pulling off a beautiful virtual lavender graduation for the students...know that you made this dark time a little brighter for our grads”
- “I need to express my deep gratitude and admiration for the community building work you do that culminates in moments like that. Thank you so much! It is a joy and honor to witness and be a part of.”
- “Really, really, really well done friends! You made that moment so very special for students even through the wild circumstances we are in. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of it.”
- “Thank you for a beautiful and touching event! I am so glad that I got to celebrate my accomplishment with all of you. Best wishes to the LGBT Center, and keep up your good work! It really means a lot to us. :)”
- “Thank you so much to the LGBTQ Center for all that you have done for me and for all of us. My Wake experience would not have been the same. I love all of you so much. Thank you everyone for coming!!! Ever grateful to see all of your smiling faces and bright souls. :)”
- “Congratulations to you each and all. As an alum ('94) it is an honor to be invited to join you tonight and a pleasure to see how amazing everyone is. You all have created such a wonderful culture and shared experience. Congratulations and best of luck to all!”
Missed Lavender Graduation or just want to revisit it? Check out the program here and listen to our Lavender Graduation playlist while you learn about our Lavender Graduates!
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Speas-Perillo Scholarship Announcement
The LGBTQ+ Center is delighted to announce a new scholarship initiative, the Speas-Perillo Scholarship. This fund will make an award of $4,000 to an incoming first year student who identifies as LGBTQ+ and has demonstrated financial need. Additional consideration will be given to students who are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, as well as first generation college students. We are so excited about this scholarship, and the ways in which it will allow us to both help recruit and retain a diverse student body, as well as connect incoming students with the LGBTQ+ Center and its resources.
The scholarship is funded by Lisa Speas (WFU ’82) and Dr. Patty Perillo. Lisa and Patty met in 1993 at the University of Maryland - Lisa was the Assistant Director of Sports Marketing at the university and Patty was working on her Ph.D. They married in 2014. Lisa and Patty returned to Maryland in 2020, where Patty is the Vice President for Students Affairs at the University of Maryland and Lisa is retired from law enforcement in Charlotte, NC.
Lisa and Patty write:
“We created the endowed scholarship at Wake Forest to assist an LGBTQ+ student with some of their educational expenses, which can be massive and overwhelming. In particular, we were also hoping to serve an LGBTQ+ student who was a person of color or first-generation college educated. We believe that giving to others in need and deserving is what we are called to do - whether with our finances, our talents, and/or our time. Our financial gift to Wake Forest felt like the right thing for us to do to give back and pay it forward. We look forward to meeting the annual student recipient each year - one of the perks for us! We hope that our scholarship will benefit an incoming Wake Forest LGBTQ+ student who may not have had the means to become a Demon Deacon!”
Stay tuned for a profile of our first student recipient in an upcoming edition of the newsletter!
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Year in Review for the LGBTQ+ Center
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Ways to Support the LGBTQ+ Center
Did you know that there are multiple ways to support LGBTQ+ students on campus? Financial gifts from our alumni and friends impact students in numerous ways. Here are different ways that your gift can change the lives of students on campus. If you would like to discuss current needs for LGBTQ+ students with Dr. Angela Mazaris, please reach out at mazarise@wfu.edu.
The LGBTQ+ Center Fund
This is a general fund that supports the student engagement work of the LGBTQ+ Center. Our Change Agents Student Leadership Development Program, which develops future LGBTQ+ leaders and changemakers, is supported almost entirely through gifts to this fund. As budgets tighten across the institution in response to the COVID crisis, this fund will be an important means of continuing our work of engagement, advocacy, and support.
The LGBTQ Emergency Fund
The LGBTQ Emergency Fund exists to meet emergency financial hardship of LGBTQ+ students/students associated with the LGBTQ+ community. The fund is used to support students who need additional financial resources due to their gender identity or sexual orientation. This may include losing family support after enrollment due to issues around their sexual orientation or gender identity; a student's sexual orientation or gender identity creating a need for additional resources that they cannot afford on their own; or an LGBTQ+ identified student requiring additional resources because of circumstances beyond their control.
Alumni who would like to contribute to either the LGBTQ+ Center Fund or the Emergency Fund can reach out to Mike Haggis in the Office of Advancement for more information on how to give.
Scholarships
The cost of attendance at Wake Forest is expensive but we are committed to helping deserving students make it affordable. Student Aid remains a top fundraising priority for the University and generous donors continue to open doors with scholarships along with grants, work-study opportunities, and loans from the Office of Financial Aid. We have made great strides in the past six years increasing the number of need based awards, expanding our financial aid packages and decreasing the amount of debt a student has at graduation.
Students of promise, often first-generation attendees, directly benefit from knowing someone believes in them and have made possible their desire to experience all that campus life has to offer. Individuals can support Financial Aid and Scholarships for LGBTQ-identified students by making a gift in any amount to the LGBTQ Scholarship Fund, which was established in the fall of 2017 by a group of alumni. The LGBTQ Scholarship is awarded to a student who has demonstrated exceptional service to improving the campus climate and the wellbeing of students within the LGBTQ community on campus. Alumni can also endow named scholarships and designate that they support LGBTQ students.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can contribute to student aid or create your own named scholarship fund, please reach out to Ashley Blanchard, Director of Scholarships, in University Advancement at blanchaf@wfu.edu or 336.758.4013.
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