(In Progress) LGBTQ+ College Students and Mental Health Possibilities

Kirstin Byrd, EdD (she/her/hers), is a 2020 graduate of the William & Mary Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership program, focusing on higher education administration. She has a BS in social psychology from Spelman College and an MA in student affairs counseling from Hampton University. Her research interests include college student development, LGBTQ college students, historically Black colleges and universities, global higher education, and women’s issues in higher education. Currently, her research focuses on LGBTQ college students, exploring intersectional identity development, mental health and how to inform institutions of their needs. Her professional goals include providing research-informed strategies and policies that promote the safety and inclusion of marginalized student groups, and supporting the evolution of historically Black colleges and universities.

Daniel Delmonaco (he/him/his or they/their/theirs) is a PhD student at the University of Michigan School of Information. Daniel researches LGBTQ+ health, information seeking, and social media. Daniel's current research focuses on the sexual health information seeking of LGBTQ+ young people and the collaborative development of LGBTQ+ health resources through participatory design.

ominira mars (they/them/luv) is a second-year student at University of San Francisco studying international & multicultural education. They are a Black southern queer-feminist student, educator, and writer passionate about community/political education. They see the art of storytelling as a tool/tactic of political imagination and enjoy confronting dominant narratives to dismantle systems of oppression.

Ryan A. Miller (he/him/his) is an assistant professor of educational leadership and higher education program director at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research agenda addresses (1) the experiences of minoritized social groups in higher education, with emphasis on identities of sexuality, gender, and disability, as well as intersecting social identities, and (2) the institutionalization of diversity and equity initiatives within colleges and universities.

Francisco J. Sánchez (he/him/his), associate professor in Educational, School & Counseling Psychology, earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Iowa. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Southern California; and a six-year post-doctoral fellowship in human genetics and neuroendocrinology at that UCLA School of Medicine. He is active within the American Psychological Association (APA) where he currently serves as one three expert consultants on transgender issues for the APA Office of the General Counsel; and he is an appointed member on both the APA Board of Convention Affairs and the APA Task Force on Differences of Sex Development.

Dr. Brett E. Scofield (he/him/his) earned his doctor of philosophy degree from Wichita State University in clinical/community psychology in 2006. Dr. Scofield has devoted nearly his entire career to collegiate mental health, working as a clinician and administrator within numerous university-based counseling centers over the past 17 years. He currently holds leadership positions within Penn State Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) as well as the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a national practice-based research network of over 600 college counseling centers. Dr. Scofield has several publications on the topic of college student mental health and has co-developed numerous tools that are used nationally by college counseling centers to advocate for services. In addition, threat assessment and management are a particular specialty of Dr. Scofield’s, having served on the Threat Assessment Teams at two major universities since 2012.