With an active LGBTQ student, faculty, and staff community and a fully inclusive nondiscrimination policy, Rensselaer asks all students, “Why Not Change The World?”
For more information please contact Tara R. Schuster 518/276.2305
Resources
There are many resources for gender and sexual minorities on the Rensselaer campus. Gender-neutral/inclusive housing is available by contacting the Office of Student Living and Learning. Gender-neutral/single occupancy restrooms may be found across campus, including the first floor of the admissions office.
The Rensselaer Pride Alliance (RPA) is a non-partisan student organization at RPI. Its purpose is to provide support and advocacy for all LGBTQ and allied individuals within the Rensselaer community. It aims to increase positive awareness of the LGBTQQA community by hosting speakers, movies, and educational sessions, as well as participating in campus events such as "National Coming Out Week" and "AIDS Awareness Week" to combat homophobia and transphobia.
The LGBTQ Mentoring Network is a program designed for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) community on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus. This program pairs mentors (LGBTQ graduate students, faculty, and staff) and mentees (LGBTQ undergraduate or graduate students) in formal mentoring relationships. Membership in the program can remain confidential.
Rensselaer formally supports LGBTQ issues through its LGBTQ Task Force, a committee of students, staff, and faculty charged with supporting and improving the campus climate for the LGBTQ community.
2018–19 LGBTQ Task Force Members
Peter Fox, Member (He/Him)
Professor and Teatherless World Constellation Chair
Shannon Johnson, Member (She/Her)
EMPAC Web Manager
Karen Christina Jones, Member (She/Her)
Administrative Coordinator, Student Transitions
James Malazita, Member (He/Him)
Assistant Professor, Science and Technology Studies Department
GSAS: Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences Program
Kris Nolan Parker, Member (They/Them)
Associate Dean, Residential Commons
E.P. Press, Member (They/Them)
Lecturer, Arts Department
Rebecca Rouse, Co-Chair (She/Her)
Assistant Professor, Arts Department
GSAS: Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences Program
Guy Schaffer, Member (He/Him)
Lecturer, Science and Technology Studies Department
Tara R. Schuster, Co-Chair (She/Her)
Coordinator of Health Promotion, Health Center
Emily Stevens, Member (She/Her)
Assistant Director, Graduate Admissions
The purpose of the Safe Zone Training Program is the provide support and raise awareness of concerns of the LGBTQ and ally campus community. This 2.5 hour training program included interactive activities, discussions, an a Q & A panel involving LGBTQ individuals from the RPI campus.
The Student Health Center is a welcoming environment for LGBTQ students. If you have general health care questions or needs, contact them for an appointment. All staff are Safe Zone trained.
Discuss LGBTQ issues in a confidential setting with a professional counselor. All staff are Safe Zone trained.
Homo Radio is an LGBTQ news/talk radio show hosted every Sunday from 10AM-2PM on WRPI (91.5FM).
The Pride Center of the Capital Region is dedicated to serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Capital Region. Based in Albany, the Pride Center has been meeting the diverse needs of LGBT people in a ten-county region since 1970. The programs, held both at the Center (332 Hudson Avenue in Albany) as well as throughout the region, meet the health and human service needs of the LGBT community as well as educate and advocate for those needs in the broader Capital Region. As the oldest continuously operating LGBT community center in the country, the Pride Center has worked to build a welcoming and empowering community for all people.
In Our Own Voices grew from the efforts of three social action groups: the Feminist Action Network (FAN), Sisters and Brothers in the Life (SABIL), and the Gay Men of Color Alliance (GMOCA). Later, joined by the Social Justice Center, these organizations came together to encourage other human and civil rights groups to broaden their agendas to include the issues that affect LGBT people of color. Their mission is to work for and ensure the physical, mental, spiritual, political, cultural and economic survival and growth of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color communities.