By Tara Cavanaugh
Alli Sheppard is the new LGBTQA Coordinator at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus.
1. Why is a position like yours necessary?
My main job is providing students with resources and support and to help train faculty and staff. It's necessary because LGBTQ students get overlooked in terms of programming and support. It's not as obvious they're in a minority. Often those students have a different set of issues they're dealing with. It's important to provide them with those resources so they can focus on their studies and be comfortable with who they are.
2. What resources do you point students to?
I point students who want to be allies to trainings. We have a SAFE, "student, staff and faculty for equality," training which covers what it means to be an ally and moving past tolerance towards inclusion. I refer students to counseling services, the GSA if they want to get more involved, and Affirmations and the Ruth Ellis Center if they want to do service projects.
3. Tell us a little bit about your background.
I did my undergrad at Eastern Michigan University in communications with a minor in sociology. Since I was 14, I've been involved in the Michigan Roundtable, working on diversity, inclusion, facilitating workshops, leading camps. I've always been really interested in LGBT issues because I feel that's left out when talking about diversity. I feel they should not be overlooked.
4.Why did you join the Michigan Roundtable when you were so young?
I was always interested in meeting people who were different than me. I grew up in a predominantly white Catholic community. I was always trying to learn more about people and different cultures. Some in my family had some cognitive impairments, so I was passionate about inclusive language. When I was seven I surprised my teacher by getting upset when she said "retarded." In high school a lot of my friends started coming out and I learned more about being LGBT. I heard about a camp put on by the Michigan Roundtable about social justice issues and I signed right up for it. It was more about self-discovery and learning about the personal biases you have and learning about discrimination … and learning what we can do as a collective unit to advocate for people and one another. And I stayed involved since then – now, not as much as I used to be, but I'm still extremely close to them and I still do service projects.
5. What goals do you have for your new job?
I'm really looking forward to continuing the SAFE trainings. And also just working on getting them out and increasing promotion of those trainings, so students and new hires know they're available. I also really want to get a coming out support group. Another thing we're working on is forming classroom panels. It's hard to have programs that aren't just preaching to the choir. So we're working to make sure we reach a larger audience and that we're reaching staff and students where they're at.
