University of
Virginia hires advocate for LGBT students

Aiming to better serve sexual minority students, the University of Virginia has hired the school's first full-time program coordinator for its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center. Joy Pugh will manage student support groups and other activities offered through the six-year-old center, said Shamim Sisson, senior associate dean of students. Her appointment follows a three-month national search. The Charlottesville center provides support to up to 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students it estimates to be on campus. Until last year, the center was directed by graduate students, limiting operation to roughly 20 hours a week, Sisson said. That also created a revolving door of managers who had to learn the ropes every year. The center tried a full-time worker on a trial basis last year, and administrators approved a permanent position over the summer. "[We] knew if we had the level of continuity of a professional staff member from year to year, we would be able to provide the level of service we needed," Sisson said. Pugh, 27, comes to the University of Virginia from James Madison University, where she worked as a service specialist with the university honors program and was a graduate assistant aiding in new student orientation and diversity. She will oversee support groups such as QueerGrads, an LGBT graduate student group; SafeSpace, which prepares instructors to counsel LGBT students; and the center's LGBT speaker program. She'll fill a position that has become increasingly common on American campuses, said Brad Luna, a spokesman for the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign. LGBT coordinators have been hired at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and the University of New Hampshire. "People are beginning to see that there is a diversity amongst the student population," said Luna, calling such centers vital to encouraging discussion and promoting tolerance. (AP)