UND LGBTQ+ Day-long Institute

Reimagining Community: Possibility, Purpose, Belonging, and Joy.

November 17, 2025

This in-person day-long institute is open to all students, faculty, staff, and community members to come together and envision expansive and creative ways of forming and sustaining LGBTQIA2S+ communities in higher education beyond traditional models. This institute will explore the ways in which we celebrate, advocate, and promote well-being.

Registration closes November 1, 2025

Register

Schedule

Schedule is subject to change. All times listed in Central Time.

MU = Memorial Union

Speaker Sessions

Dr. Kristopher Oliveira

We are the Ancestors Now: The History and Evidence for Queer and Trans Inclusion on Campus

In this keynote, Dr. Kristopher Oliveira (he/him) invites participants to reflect on the legacy and future of Queer and Trans inclusion in higher education, drawing on history, evidence, and storytelling. Framed by José Esteban Muñoz’s “hope in the face of heartbreak,” the session acknowledges today’s challenges while centering strategies of resilience and inclusion. Through table conversations, research insights, and examples from his own research and an upcoming co-edited volume, attendees will see how small, contextually grounded acts of inclusion and praxis create ripples across campus communities. Together, we will imagine futures where evidence, community, and hope sustain the work of higher education leaders committed to fostering belonging.

Biography

Kristopher Oliveira, PhD (he/him) is Director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center at the University of Maryland and a faculty affiliate. A sociologist and higher education leader, he has directed LGBTQ+ centers at Princeton, the University of Kansas, and St. Cloud State University. His research examines Queer and Trans (QT) resource centers and practitioners, exploring programmatic and academic outcomes for QT students and the experiences of Black and Queer professionals in higher education. He is co-editor of the forthcoming volume Championing Trans and Queer Inclusion Beyond the Campus Resource Center and serves as Practitioner-in-Residence for ACPA’s Coalition for Sexuality and Gender Identities. Kristopher has also held leadership and volunteer roles with the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, the Trevor Project, and the Human Rights Campaign. Beyond research, he enjoys traveling, all things Oz, and time with his husband, Alfredo, and their chihuahua, Scooby Doo.

Dr. Roman Christiaens

Imaginative Acts of Student Support: Transfeminist Praxis and Queer Rural Belonging in Higher Education

In the midst of our current socio-political climate, what does it mean to imagine and build queer and trans community in places where such belonging is often considered impossible? In this keynote, Dr. Roman Christiaens draws from their work on transfeminist praxis, queer rural students, and the limits and liberatory possibilities of institutionalized diversity work to offer a vision for reimagining campus communities grounded in desire, joy, refusal, and worldbuilding. Weaving together personal story, critical theory, and LGBTQ+ scholarship, this keynote invites participants to reimagine how they might build community and student support within their own unique campus contexts.

Biography

Dr. Roman Christiaens (she/they) is an advocate, scholar and student affairs practitioner with over ten years of experience on college campuses, including programs and policies supporting trans and nonbinary students, staff and faculty. Their work and research highlights the experiences of transfemmes at colleges and universities, the role of community & belonging efforts in higher education and the intersections between rurality and queerness. Roman earned their doctorate in Higher Education from the Center for the Study in Higher Education at the University of Arizona with a minor in Race and Gender in Education. Roman recently served as the Internal Relations Director for the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and as the Managing Editor for About Campus, ACPA's scholarly magazine. 

R.B. Brooks

The Anatomy of a Third Space

This session will demonstrate how "Third Spaces," such as conferences, think tanks, or political homes, offer an alternative, holistic model for building and sharing knowledge, crafting skills and kinship networks essential to queer and trans communities, and extending (or rejecting) our worlds at home, on campus, or at work. 

Biography

R.B. Brooks (they/them) is an astrologer, writer, podcaster, and educator with a lifelong love-hate relationship with the Midwest. They serve as the program coordinator for Sexuality & Gender Equity Initiatives at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

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Student Perspectives: Cultivating Community in Higher Education

Attendees have an opportunity to attend lunch and a moderated conversation featuring students from across campus, sharing their perspectives on how they cultivated community during their academic study. The session is moderated by Shaylah Anderson, UND Pride Center Support Services Assistant and Counseling Psychology doctoral student. Participants will gain insight into the student experience and learn about how students view support, resources, programs, and initiatives; providing opportunity for future directions in higher education.

Contact

Contact Dr. Jeff Maliskey for more information.