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This summer, the Â鶹´«Ã½ was named a by Best Colleges in partnership with Campus Pride. To reflect on this recognition, the (ODI) and (PQP) hosted a town hall conversation for the Pitt community to discuss the progress the University has made to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ faculty, staff and students—and what the needs to be done to make Pitt more supportive of its LGBTQIA+ community.

The event was an installment of Pitt’s running town hall seriesÌýÌý

The conversation was moderated by , associate vice chancellor for civil rights and Title IX, and featured the following panelists:

• anupama jain—executive director, Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission
• Anais Peterson—former executive vice president of the Pitt Student Government Board
• Darren Whitfield—assistant professor,
• Kristen L. Eckstrand—clinical assistant professor, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, and postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry
• Neerja Garikipati—AQUARIUS vice president
• Nick Marsellas—PhD candidate, teaching fellow and assistant director of the Teaching Assistant Training Program, Ìýin the
• Stephen Gilson—associate legal counsel, Office of University Counsel

The panelists provided suggestions for recognizing and compensating students, faculty and staff who do LGBTQIA+ advocacy work that’s outside of their job description, and the desire to create a dedicated space or center for LGBTQIA+ students, faculty and staff—along with its own designated staff member.

The panelists also talked about bringing systematic attention to some of the issues facing the LGBTQIA+ population and about making University’s more transparent.