Syracuse University announced on Tuesday evening that khristian kemp-delisser has been appointed as the LGBT Resource Center’s permanent director.

kemp-delisser, who’s currently Colgate University’s assistant dean and director of LGBTQ initiatives, will start their appointment at SU on April 2. The LGBT Resource Center has been without a permanent director since early November, when then-director Tiffany Gray left her position at SU for a new job with West Chester University’s LGBTQA Services.

Rob Pusch, a former member of the University Senate’s Committee on LGBT Concerns, was appointed as the center’s interim director in the fall.

“It is all coming full circle as this was the community that launched me, and now, is welcoming me back to lead the LGBT Resource Center,” said kemp-Delisser, in a press release Tuesday evening.

kemp-delisser graduated from SU in 2001 and was on campus when the LGBT center was established. kemp-delisser earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies and a master’s in higher education and student affairs administration from the University of Vermont, Burlington.

Two open forums were held by SU earlier this semester for both kemp-delisser and Samuel Neil Bryd, another candidate for the permanent LGBT Resource Center director position. kemp-delisser, during their forum in Crouse-Hinds Hall, presented strategies they used at Colgate, including a “leave-them-alone” technique they described as allowing LGBTQ people of color to create their own spaces.

“I’ve been in a dual-multiplicity space,” kemp-delisser said at the time. “It comes out linking my salient identities as a gay man. I came out when I came to college … jumped into pride union. And I had a lot to learn about my racial and ethnic identity.”

During their time at Colgate, kemp-delisser helped develop the Gender Pronoun Service. They also helped increase gender-inclusive restrooms, supported peer-to-peer sexual assault prevention education initiatives and strengthened programs for the LGBTQ and ally communities at Colgate, according to an SU press release.

Before starting their job at Colgate, kemp-delisser held roles in the African/Latino/Asian/Native American Student Center at the University of Vermont, Burlington and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

“I was energized and excited to return to my alma mater to begin working with the University community to support, educate and celebrate LGBTQQIA identities and students with marginalized genders and sexualities,” kemp-delisser said in the press release.

Published on February 20, 2018 at 6:35 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek