Contributors
James Aimers is professor of anthropology at SUNY Geneseo. He has a BA and an MA from Trent University and a PhD from Tulane University. An archaeologist specializing in ancient Maya pottery and architecture, he edited Ancient Maya Pottery: Classification, Analysis, and Interpretation (2012) and has taught a variety of courses, including Gender and Sexuality in Latin America, Men and Masculinities, and Archaeology of Sex and Sexuality.
Deborah P. Amory is professor of social science at SUNY Empire State College. She holds a PhD from Stanford University in anthropology, and a BA from Yale University in African studies. Her early work focused on same-sex relations on the Swahili-speaking coast of East Africa and on lesbian identity in the United States. She has served in academic administration and has been energized by the open education movement, especially in relation to developing online open educational resource courses and textbooks, including Introduction to Anthropology, Sex and Gender in Global Perspective, and Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies.
Robert Bittner has a PhD in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies from Simon Fraser University and also received an MA from the children’s literature program at the University of British Columbia’s School of Information in Vancouver, British Columbia. He studies and writes about a wide range of literature but particularly enjoys stories with diverse and intersectional depictions of gender and sexuality. His research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Marquis Bey is assistant professor of African American studies and English and faculty affiliate in critical theory and in gender and sexuality studies at Northwestern University. Their work focuses on Black feminist theory, transgender studies, continental philosophy, and abolition. The author of multiple books, their most recent publications include Black Trans Feminism, to be released in February 2022, and Cistem Failure: Essays on Blackness and Cisgender, to be released in September 2022.
Allison P. Brown is digital publishing services manager at SUNY Geneseo’s Fraser Hall Library. She oversees the library’s publishing program, which includes supporting student journals such as Gandy Dancer and the Proceedings of GREAT Day, and manages the editorial and production processes of the Geneseo Authors and Milne Open Textbooks imprints. She provides education and guidance to the Geneseo community in digital publishing, open access, open educational resources, and copyright. She studied for her MFA in poetry at Emerson College, where she also became interested in design and digital publishing.
Cathy Corder earned her PhD in history from Claremont Graduate University in California and her MA and BA in English from Texas Christian University. She teaches for the Department of English at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her classes focus on book history and print culture, and she challenges her students to examine not only the traditional examples of fine printing and literature but also the great variety of popular writing available in different print formats and genres: comics, pulp fiction, cookbooks, and travel guides.
Christa Craven is a professor and activist-scholar whose research focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer reproduction; midwifery activism; and reproductive justice. Her op-eds have appeared in the Huffington Post and the Feminist Wire, and she is the author of several books, including Reproductive Losses: Challenges to LGBTQ Family-Making (2019). She is professor of anthropology and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at the College of Wooster in Ohio, where she teaches the classes Global Politics of Reproduction, Queer Lives, Transnational Feminisms, Doing Feminist Research: Theory and Practice, Ethnographic Research, Feminist Pedagogy in Action, and Globalizing Health. Her professional website is http://discover.wooster.edu/ccraven/.
David M. Frost, PhD, is associate professor of social psychology at University College London. His research interests sit at the intersections of close relationships, stress, stigma, and health. His primary line of research focuses on how stigma, prejudice, and discrimination constitute minority stress and, as a result, affect the health and well-being of marginalized individuals. He also studies how couples psychologically experience intimacy within long-term romantic relationships and how their experience of intimacy affects their health. These two lines of research combine within recent projects examining same-sex couples’ experiences of stigmatization and the resulting impact on their relational, sexual, and mental health.
Kimberly Fuller, PhD, is associate professor at Cleveland State University in the School of Social Work, a licensed independent social worker, and a certified sex therapist. Her area of research is in LGBTQ+ youth development, supportive relationships, and institutional inequities. Additionally, she provides therapy to LGBTQ+ adolescents and adults in private practice. She is a researcher with THRiVE Research Collaborative intent on developing a justice-focused LGBTQ+ sex education curriculum.
Rosalinda Hernandez Linares is the collections and research services librarian at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. She earned a BA in classical civilizations from Wellesley College and a master of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary research and pedagogical interests connect intersectionality, critical race theory, and feminist theory with prominent concerns in librarianship relating to information literacy, collections, and student success.
Thomas Lawrence Long is professor in residence in the University of Connecticut’s School of Nursing, where he is curator of the Josephine A. Dolan Nursing History Archive and on the affiliate faculty of the university’s women’s, gender, and sexuality studies program. He is the author of AIDS and American Apocalypticism: The Cultural Semiotics of an Epidemic (SUNY Press, 2005), coeditor of The Meaning Management Challenge: Making Sense of Health, Illness and Disease (2010), and coauthor of Writing in Nursing: A Brief Guide (2017). His journal articles and book chapters have examined representations of HIV/AIDS, the history of nursing, sexuality, and medical humanities.
Sean G. Massey is associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Binghamton University and coinvestigator with the Binghamton University Human Sexualities Lab. He received his PhD in social personality psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research focuses on the study of sexuality, gender, anti-homosexual prejudice, attitudes toward same-sex parenting, racial bias in educational and law enforcement contexts, and the relationship between social science and social change.
Ann Merriwether is a developmental psychologist at Binghamton University with the Department of Psychology. She earned her BA, MA, and PhD from Penn State, all in psychology. She does research in adolescent and emergent adult development and has particular interests in sexual socialization and reproductive health attitudes. She is also interested in the impact of media discourse messages on body image development in adolescents and emergent adults.
Jennifer Miller earned a PhD in cultural studies from George Mason University and an MA in literary and cultural studies from Carnegie Mellon University. She is an English lecturer at the University of Texas at Arlington. She researches LGBTQ+ children’s literature and culture, digital culture, and sexual subcultures. Her books include The Transformative Potential of LGBTQ+ Children’s Picture Books (2022) and The Dialectic of Digital Culture (2019), which she coedited with David Arditi. Her scholarship appears in the Journal of Homosexuality, the European Journal of American Studies, Fast Capitalism, and other journals and edited collections.
Rae-Anne Montague is a faculty member and the library and information science program coordinator at Chicago State University. She is past chair of the American Library Association Rainbow Round Table and past convener of the LGBTQ+ Special Interest Group of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. She has been involved in libraries and provided leadership in library education and community initiatives for over twenty years.
Rita M. Palacios is language professor in the School of Interdisciplinary at Conestoga College. She received her PhD in Latin American literature from the University of Toronto. She specializes in contemporary Maya cultural production (literature and art) from Guatemala. She coauthored Unwriting Maya Literature: Ts’íib as Recorded Knowledge (2019) and has published articles on Maya literature, performance, and art. Her research interests include Indigenous literatures, issues of gender and queerness in Latin American literature and culture, and postwar Guatemalan literature.
Gesina A. Phillips is the digital scholarship librarian at the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh. She received her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015, and her MA in literary and cultural studies from Carnegie Mellon University in 2012. She works on initiatives related to digital humanities, programming and creative code, research data management, copyright, and information literacy.
Carrie Pirmann (she/her) is the social sciences librarian at Bucknell University, where she has responsibility for information literacy instruction and research assistance across multiple departments. In addition to her liaison responsibilities, she works closely with partners across the university to support a range of digital scholarship projects. She is cochair of the diversity, equity, and inclusion council for the Bucknell Library and Information Technology Department and passionate about working on DEI issues and accessibility in libraries. She holds a master of liberal studies in women’s studies from Eastern Michigan University and an MSLIS and MEd from the University of Illinois. She can be contacted at carrie.pirmann@bucknell.edu.
Clark A. Pomerleau is associate professor in the University of North Texas History Department who also serves on the women’s and gender studies and LGBTQ+ studies advisory boards. His book Califia Women: Feminist Education against Sexism, Classism, and Racism (2013) and scholarly essays historicize feminist diversity education, feminist views on sexuality, and trans-inclusive praxis. He also writes poetry about queer aesthetic, transformative agency, memory, place, and nature. His first full-length poetry book is Every Day, They Became Part of Him (forthcoming). He published his chapbook Better Living through Cats in 2021.
Sabia Prescott (she/they) is a senior policy and legislative analyst at the Campaign for Our Shared Future, where they work to preserve access, inclusion, and meaningful content in schools. Previously, she researched and wrote about LGBTQ+ inclusive education for the Education Policy program at New America, a nonpartisan think tank. They’ve worked to bridge areas of open licensing, culturally responsive pedagogy, and digital technology in broad support of progressive and inclusive education. She holds a BA from the University of Mary Washington and an MPA from George Washington University.
Christine Rodriguez (she/they), DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, MDiv, MA, is a family nurse practitioner with a strong commitment to providing inclusive, high-quality care for the LGBTQ+ community. Her research interests are gender-affirming hormone therapy for gender-diverse folx, gender-affirming surgeries, sexual health, the intersectionality of religion and spirituality and LGBTQ+ identities, and simulation-based education to enhance cultural humility. She serves as lecturer and director of the Simulation Unit at Yale School of Nursing and is affiliate faculty for the Yale Institute of Global Health. She has lectured, both locally and nationally, regarding the importance of LGBTQ+ health care content within health care curricula, has conducted numerous sensitivity trainings with clinical partners, and has developed simulation scenarios for health care professionals centered on LGBTQ+ health care.
Mycroft M. Roske has worked in LGBTQIA+ education and awareness, especially transgender, intersex, asexual, and aromantic education, since 2013. His research focuses on gender and sexuality in historical, archaeological, and literary contexts and emphasizes transgender studies. He is currently involved in multiple independent research projects studying gender-variant historical figures.
Ariella Rotramel, PhD, is the Vandana Shiva Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies at Connecticut College. They are an interdisciplinary scholar committed to bridging theoretical and practical engagements of identity and social justice issues. They hold a BA for an independent program of study (Intersections of Racial, Sexual and Gender Identities) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a doctorate in women’s and gender studies from Rutgers University.
Joseph Russo is an ethnographer of the U.S. South and visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Wesleyan University. They received their PhD in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018 and also hold an MA in English (Brooklyn College) and an MPhil in cultural studies (Goldsmiths College). Their research focuses on rural social ecology and storytelling forms, queer rurality, affect studies, and medical anthropology.
Shyla Saltzman earned her PhD in English literature at Cornell University. Her research and teaching focuses on contemporary American literature and on gender, cultural, and ethnic studies. She teaches at Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Melody Scagnelli-Townley is the outreach librarian at Bayonne Public Library. She’s a former American Library Association Emerging Leader, two-time former Over the Rainbow Book List selection committee member, and current Alex Award selection committee member. At home, she’s a mom to her one-and-a-half-year-old toddler, who teaches her new things every day; a partner to her husband, who supports her in everything she does; and a loving caretaker to her two cats, who mostly cause trouble. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and playing lots of video games.
Dara J. Silberstein is research associate professor of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Binghamton University. She received her JD from SUNY Buffalo in 1985 and is a licensed attorney. She received her PhD in labor history from Cornell University in 1995. Throughout her career she has focused on social justice issues, particularly the way laws operate to marginalize women and members of LGBTQ+ communities. Her early research on employment and labor laws specifically dealt with the historical impact of employment laws on women’s family and reproductive lives. She is currently working on a project that looks at the plight of LGBTQ+ Muslim refugees during their resettlement.
Maddison Lauren Simmons (they/them) received an honors BA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington with a minor in women’s and gender studies. Their undergraduate thesis focused on tropes within lesbian young adult literature from 1976 to 2019. They remain interested in queer literature and spend time reviewing books on their blog, Maddison’s Musings.
Marianne Snyder, PhD, MSN, RN, is assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Nursing, director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs, and a registered nurse with more than thirty-eight years of combined experience in clinical practice and higher education. She is the chair of the GLMA Nursing Section and serves on the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Steering Committee. She is passionate about educating students to provide culturally inclusive, individualized patient-centered care and to understand their role in shaping health policy. Her research has included understanding the health care experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals and educating health care providers on creating better care environments for LGBTQ+ populations.
Lynne Stahl is the humanities librarian at West Virginia University. She earned her PhD in English at Cornell University and her MLS from Emporia State University. Her work has appeared in publications such as Library and Information Science Research, The Velvet Light Trap, Popular Culture, Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier, and the Journal of the Medical Library Association. Her current research lies at the intersection of film, gender studies, affect theory, and critical information studies. She is an advocate for open education models and has created two open teaching resources—a film analysis tutorial and a reader’s guide to Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home.
Steve Stratton is librarian emeritus at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI). He lives with his husband in an old fire station in Michigan. He is the author of two editions of the Encyclopedia of HIV and AIDS. He cochaired the American Library Association LGBT Roundtable from 2001 to 2005. He currently serves as a member of the International Federation of Library Associations Indigenous Matters standing committee. In addition to his library work, he taught the LGBT studies course at CSUCI for a number of years, sharing his love of LGBT history and literature with students.
Jessica Szempruch (she/her) is faculty librarian at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee campus. She received her BA (English literature) and MLIS from the University of South Florida, where she is currently pursuing her doctorate in education, focusing on educational innovation. In addition to her instructional roles, She serves as a campus LGBTQ+ Safe Zone trainer, faculty mentor for student LGBTQ+ initiatives, and sponsor of USF’s Virtual Book Club. Her research interests stem from her passionate belief in the essential roles academic librarians can play in fostering student success, enhancing student engagement, and supporting retention efforts within the classroom and through cocurricular experiences.
Adriaan van Klinken, PhD is professor of religion and African studies at the University of Leeds. He serves as director of the Leeds University Center for African Studies and of the Leeds University Center for Religion and Public Life. He also is Extraordinary Professor in the Desmond Tutu Center for Religion and Social Justice, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. His research focuses on religion, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Africa. His books include Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism and Arts of Resistance in Africa (2019). He coauthored Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa (2021) and Sacred Queer Stories: Ugandan LGBTQ+ Refugee Lives and the Bible (2021).
Ryan J. Watson is associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. He explores protective factors for vulnerable adolescents, with a focus on interpersonal relationships. He situates himself as a mixed-methods interdisciplinary family scientist and draws from life course and developmental frameworks. To further advance the scholarship of interpersonal relationships and sexual minority youth, he has used both population-based and nonprobability data sets from the United States, Norway, and Canada to examine how social support (friends, teachers, and parents) may attenuate the impact of risk factors such as victimization, homophobia, and stigma on well-being. In addition, He has led a qualitative study that explores the motivations and outcomes for hooking up among sexual minority populations.
Rachel Wexelbaum is institutional education supervisor at Minnesota Department of Corrections. She received her MLIS from San Jose State University in 2004 and is currently working on her doctorate in higher education administration. She has worked in multiple library types and archives and has taught for over twenty years. Her areas of library expertise include LGBTQ+ library resources and services, open access, scholarly communication, Wikipedia, and Creative Commons.
Olivia Wood is a PhD candidate in English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, focusing on rhetoric and LGBTQ+ studies, specifically bisexuality. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Bisexuality, Virginia Woolf Miscellany, Peer Review, and The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric. She teaches composition at Fordham University and works as a digital pedagogy fellow at the New York City College of Technology. She has an MA in English and a BA in English and anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Susan Wood is an instruction librarian at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island. She is the chairperson of the SCCC LGBTQ+ Task Force and the creator and administrator of the Braver Spaces LGBTQ+ Ally Training Program for SCCC employees. Her research interests include critical information literacy pedagogy; diversity equity, and inclusion collection analysis; and open educational resource implementation.
Sarah R. Young is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Binghamton University. She earned her MSW from the University of Michigan and her PhD from the University of Alabama. Her two tracks of research are (1) supporting sexual and gender minorities in the contexts of their families and schools and (2) investigating interventions for chronic pain (particularly for people living with HIV/AIDS or people prescribed long-term opioid therapy). She is cofounder and former program manager of the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, is a former Point Foundation Scholar, and was selected by the Barack Obama White House as an emerging LGBTQ+ leader. Since 2017, she has been a coprincipal investigator and research mentor for the Undergraduate Human Sexuality Lab at Binghamton University.
