Gender and Sexuality History
The roots of the Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC) lie in the work of members of the UIC Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues. The committee was formed in the fall of 1991 by then-Chancellor James Stukel. Over the first two years of its existence, the Committee (then known as the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues) identified the creation of an office to serve the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations of UIC as a key goal. In tandem, the UIC student organization PRIDE at UIC was also evaluating the needs of the LGB student body. They, too, identified an office or center as a key requirement for adequate services to students to serve 100% of the UIC population on issues related to sexual orientation.
In the fall of 1993, former UIC employee David Barnett as well as three other members of the Chancellor’s Committee, developed a proposal for an office to specifically serve LGB members of UIC’s faculty, staff, and students. The proposal was reviewed and then submitted to Chancellor Stukel. Concurrently, PRIDE held a petition drive in the spring of 1994. They sought signatures asking the university to create an office to serve LGB students and gathered several thousand names in a few weeks. In addition, they received support for their request from a variety of other UIC student groups, most notably the Undergraduate Student Government. At a media event held by PRIDE, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management announced that the university would create such an office. Thus, the Office was developed at the initiative of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues and Pride at UIC to serve as a conduit for all things queer at UIC.
In July 1994, Dr. David Barnett was invited by the Chancellor to serve on a 1/3 time basis as the interim director for the Office of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns (OGLBC). Dr. Barnett was a staff psychologist at the UIC Counseling Center. The Office was allocated funds for a full-time Information Services Supervisor and an operating budget of $5000 after salaries. The Office was assigned to report to the Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, positioned under Academic Affairs rather than Student Affairs. The Office was to meet the needs of faculty, staff, and students and had an academic charge.
The first order of business was to locate a space for the office. The chosen site was ½ mile or more from most of the east-side campus. No campus bus service served this building, and it was not easily accessible for mobility-impaired visitors. In the meantime, Dr. Barnett secured a wide range of surplus furniture for use in the Office and began assembling a collection of donated books, magazines, and other materials into a resource library for the Office. The space opened in November 1994.
Due to a lack of visitors as a result of distance and limited office hours, a second proposal was submitted to expand the time for the director to work on a ¾ or full-time basis for the next academic year. The proposal reiterated the need for a more central, accessible location on the east campus of the university.
In May 1995, Jennifer Mueller was hired as Information Services Supervisor for the office. She started work as a full-time employee in June 1995. Dr. Barnett was invited to continue his work with the Office as acting director on a ¾ time basis for the 1995-1996 academic year.
In late October 1995, the Office began plans to move to a new location at the end of the semester. In December 1995, the Office was moved to the fourth floor of the Behavioral Sciences Building. While a smaller total space, the Office was believed to be much more accessible to students, faculty, and staff in this new location. In the fall of 1995, a search began for a full-time director of the Office. The full-time, permanent basis director position was extended to Dr. David Barnett, starting September 1, 1996.
The Office of GLB Concerns, with its permanent staff and new location, offered full-time services with the genesis of the 1996-1997 academic year. A variety of programs were sponsored or co-sponsored by the Office. These included presentations by artists, authors, researchers, and activists. In addition, the Office was instrumental in bringing the NAMES Project Quilt display to UIC. The Office also co-sponsored a three-week display of the photo-text exhibit Love Makes a Family. Further, the Office was key to hosting the 1998 Midwestern Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender College Conference, organized and planned by Pride at UIC.
The name of the office was expanded to include Transgender in the summer of 1998 to become the Office of GLBT Concerns. In the fall of 1998, the Office relocated to easier-to-find quarters on the first floor of the Behavioral Sciences Building where it currently remains. In late 1998, Jennifer Mueller left the OGLBTC for a position with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. He returned as Jacob Mueller in July of 2000 as Administrative Assistant for the OGLBTC.
Dr. Barnett departed his position as director in July 2000. After a national search for a new director, Interim Provost Toby Tate hired Patrick Finnessy on November 15, 2000. His background in curriculum and instruction aligned the Office with its mission in Academic Affairs. Since his hire, the Office has reached new levels of service and visibility. Under his vision, the OGLBTC created Chicago Collegiate Pride Fest, a flagship program that was co-sponsored by area universities and by the City of Chicago.
The development of the Safe Zone program, instigated by UIC staff member Mark Martell and institutionalized by the OGLBTC, established quality and consistent ally-development trainings. The trainings began in 2001, and as of October 2008, over 2000 faculty, staff, and students have earned Safe Zone training honors under the leadership Director Finnessy. In 2006, both a train-the-trainer program and an advanced Safe Zone training were introduced.
The Lunch n Learn series, a quarterly program, has offered over 25 different topics for discussion with several hundred people since its inception in 2001. Participants gather for lunch and a lecture on a variety of topics which have included same-sex marriage from religious perspectives, BDSM/Leather, club drugs, financial planning, same-sex parenting adoption, and a Queer Hemispheres series that provided lectures from international scholars depicting societal and cultural differences between the United States and other countries.
The Rainbow Resource was one of Director Finnessy’s first initiatives and opened in April 2001. The Rainbow Resource is a drop-in space that includes a computer lab, a library and conference space with over 1000 books, and a media room with over 350 DVDs/VHS tapes. The number of visitors to the OGLBTC has grown exponentially since the opening of the Rainbow Resource. As of October 2008, the Resource hosts over 50 visitors a day. In this space, the OGLBTC has hosted an annual Rainbow Social as a meet and greet at the beginning of each school year. As the Rainbow Resource grew, its space in Room 181/Behavioral Sciences Building grew tight, and the Resource expanded in June 2004 to include Room 183. This doubled the size of the Rainbow Resource, which now includes a media room as well as a library room for quiet study and/or meetings.
A natural add-on to the Rainbow Resource has been the housing of the student group Pride at UIC. They use the Rainbow Resource to hold many of their meetings and programs, as well as to meet with new students who are interested in the organization. The Rainbow Resource’s Coordinator serves as a liaison between the OGLBTC and Pride at UIC.
The Office celebrated 10 years of service and community in the Fall of 2005, attended by nearly 100 people including Provost Michael Tanner. The anniversary’s theme was an emphasis on recognition, reflection, and resilience and looked back on a decade of programming. These programs have included such speakers as Kate Clinton, Kelly Brown Douglas, Barbara Gittings, E. Lynn Harris, David Leavitt, Irshad Manji, Leslea Newman, Achy Obejas, Robyn Ochs, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, Andrew Sullivan, George Takei, and Urvashi Vaid.
The support and supervision of the Office has shifted over the years. While it once reported directly to the Provost, it shifted to the Executive Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, and now reports to the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Affairs/Dean of the Honors College. In 2001, Director Finnessy constructed an Advisory Board for the Office, which includes faculty, staff, students, and community members.
As the OGLBTC grew, so did its mission. While Director Finnessy served as the Office’s director, he completed a doctorate in Education. As a result, Dr. Finnessy determined to adapt the mission of the Office to include research and teaching. With the support of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, Lon Kaufman, the Office changed its name in May 2007 to the Gender and Sexuality Center with a specific emphasis on LGBT Education, Outreach, Research, and Support. The Center also played a role in applying for a UIC SEED grant, sponsored by the Provost, for a Center on the Study of Community, Sexuality, and Health. While it was not awarded, it was a top-contender and the process brought together a coalition of faculty members whose work was involved with LGBTQ communities.
Policy issues were also central to the work of the Gender and Sexuality Center. For over seven years, Dr. Finnessy took the lead throughout the University of Illinois system to address the inequities of Domestic Partnership Benefits. While chairing the ad-hoc University of Illinois Domestic Partnership Benefits Task Force, the Center saw two separate domestic partnership benefit programs instilled, in large part due to the work of the Center. Dr. Finnessy was also the local principal investigator for UIC’s Campus Climate Survey in October 2002.
Every year since October 2002, the GSC has sponsored month-long programs during LGBT Heritage Month. Programs have varied in theme and included such emphasis as sexuality, spirituality, and health. Each year the month included a Safe Zone training, a Lunch n Learn, an opening reception with a keynote speaker, a closing month event, and other co-sponsored events throughout the month. In the past two years, over two dozen Colleges, Departments, and Programs have supported the programming, as well as the Student Activities Funding Committee.
A final flagship program was introduced in May 2007 with the Lavender Graduation. This was expanded in May 2008 to include the Rainbow Banquet. In its first year of recognizing UIC LGBT graduating students, over a dozen individuals participated. In its second year, the celebration, featuring actor/activist Wilson Cruz, honored nearly 20 students. The Center continues to expand the Rainbow Banquet Featuring the Lavender Graduation events.
As the work of the Center has grown, so too, has its staff. Jacob Mueller left the OGLBTC in August 2007 to work in the Honors College. While working at the OGLBTC, Jacob assisted in the supervision of numerous volunteer, part-time, and/or student workers in the Rainbow Resource. In 2006, Elizabeth Thomson was hired as the first permanent Rainbow Resource Coordinator. She was promoted to the GSC’s first Assistant Director position in July 2008 while Moises Villada was made Visiting Rainbow Resource Coordinator at the same time.
By July 2008, the GSC and the Director had expanded the objectives of the Center considerably. Each year an annual report is posted online, citing the programs and work of the Center from the previous year. In 2006, UIC was named as one of the queer-friendliest campuses in the United States, cited by The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students.
The Director’s position has become one of Advocacy and Education; Student Services and Programming; and Research. Dr. Finnessy did extensive guest lecturing in every single College at UIC with the exception of the College of Engineering. He taught at the Teaching Assistant’s Orientation; worked with the Student Orientation Leaders and Residence Halls directors; conducted an Executive Safe Zone Training for Deans, Directors, and Department Heads; taught courses in the Gender & Women’s Studies Program and the Honors College; in-serviced interns and externs at the UIC Counseling Center; and served on numerous committees and with Chicagoland community agencies. Dr. Finnessy also served as a special consultant to all three UIC Institutional Review Boards on protocols related to sexual and gender identity and met with the IRB on an annual basis. His goal was to continue to expand the work of the Center to include the establishment and coordination of fellowships, post-docs, and visiting scholars. With his work, Dr. Finnessy enhanced UIC culture, developed the GSC’s image, and served as a supervisor, coordinator, collaborator, teacher, and researcher.
In August 2008, Dr. Finnessy announced his impending departure from the GSC having moved to Toronto, Ontario, with his binational spouse. He left the GSC on November 15, 2008. Liz Thomson serves as Interim Director while a search is in process.
Back to the top
