Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month
We are proud to be a welcoming and supportive environment for people from all backgrounds, and we celebrate their continuing contributions to our university and society. Through our prior and continued work, we strive to make the spaces where we work and live more ethical and equitable. Today, we begin celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. Our communities have become safer, healthier, and more sustainable thanks to the work of LGBTQ+ engineers. As we commemorate LGBTQ+ History Month in October, we proudly recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ engineers play in our school, university, and profession. From Maryland to the world, Terp engineers take with them the lessons they learn inside and outside the classroom and lab. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Professor Emerita Sandra Greer spent 30 years at UMD, where she was the department’s first tenured woman faculty member. A pioneering researcher, she was also a strong advocate for women in science. For many years she taught an ethics in the sciences course that helped pave the way for our Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy (STEP) minor, an interdisciplinary program that explores the powerful social, ethical, and political relationships that drive research and innovation. Junior civil and environmental engineering major Ethan Guadamuz Castillo is always thinking about improving the built environment to benefit humanity. He chose to pursue a STEP minor in the hopes that the program helps him become “a more ethical engineer who considers not only how to build things,” he says, “but also how the things we build impact the people who interact with them.” Electrical and computer engineering alum Logan Glauser ’24 fed his interest in renewable engineering during his study abroad in Denmark, a country at the forefront of wind and bioenergy—and also LGBTQ+-inclusive policies. Now Glauser works as an electrical engineer for Northrop Grumman and contributes to the company culture by helping to organize programs and events for LGBTQ+ community members and allies during Pride Month. During LGBTQ+ History Month, we hope you will read, engage with, and share these and other stories of community members making a difference in people’s lives. The university’s Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy and the Stamp Student Union have also coordinated a calendar of events, open to all, for LGBTQ+ History Month, around the theme of “Dreaming Together for Queer Futures.” Other dedicated resources include the LGBTQ+ Equity Center and UMD’s chapter of the National Out in STEM (oSTEM) Organization. Communications and Program Specialist Ambi Narula serves as the Clark School’s Rainbow Community (LGBTQ+) liaison and oSTEM advisor and chairs the Engineering Senate’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She champions inclusion through advising, advocacy, and events, including the upcoming Queer STEM Alum Panel co-hosted by the Clark School. We are fortunate to be part of a university that is nationally recognized as a leading institution for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff—and fortunate that Sandra, Ethan, Logan, Ambi, and many more members of our community have contributed to the development of our reputation over decades, partnering with allies and advocates across the institution. Thank you all for fostering a dynamic community by celebrating our shared history. Sincerely, Samuel Graham Dean and Nariman Farvardin Professor
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