About Us
The Pride Center for Gender and Sexuality is dedicated to creating a more supportive and inclusive campus community.
Vision
We envision a campus community that affirms, respects, and celebrates all genders and sexualities free of discrimination.
Mission
The Pride Center fosters a supportive and inclusive campus community for queer and trans students, faculty, and staff through intersectional programs, education, support resources, and advocacy.
Core Values
Social Justice
We are committed to liberation – challenging the norms and institutionalization of intersecting forms of oppression and systemic discrimination.
Community
We are committed to creating a sense of belonging by investing in our community, expanding our programs and resources, advocating at the intersections of identity, and creating affirming spaces for the UND Queer and Trans community.
Pride
We celebrate, honor, and recognize our Queer and Trans past, present and future.
Collaboration
We are committed to building and modeling sustainable partnerships that hold our campus community accountable to critical learning and action to support Queer and Trans students, faculty, and staff.
Empowerment
We work to help students reach their potential through self-discovery, leadership opportunities, and developing a sense of agency toward social change.
Our History
The Pride Center opened in 2017 after years of advocacy work by an LGBTQ+ student group, known today as the Queer & Trans Alliance. UND was the first institution of higher education in the state of North Dakota to have a physical space and full-time staff member dedicated to LGBTQ+ students.
Learn more about UND's queer and trans history in Dr. Jeff Maliskey's dissertation, The History of Queer Resistance and Student Activism at the University of North Dakota.
UND Queer & Trans History Timeline
- 1971: Two students tried to start a Gay Liberation Front Chapter in Grand Forks but were unsuccesful.
- 1982: UND Gay Community forms as first LGBTQ+ organization in North Dakota.
- 1990: First Coming Out Week held at UND, hosted by the Organization for Alternative Lifestyles (Formerly known as the UND Gay Community).
- 2017: UND Pride Center opens in the Memorial Union and the first full-time LGBTQ+ support staff member is hired.
- 2018: The Pride Center joins Student Involvement & Parent Programs with Jeff Maliskey as the Senior Program Coordinator for Cross-Cultural Programming and LGBTQ+ Initiatives
- 2019: The Pride Center joins Student Diversity & Inclusion.
- 2022: The UND LGBTQ+ Faculty &Staff Association elects its innagural Board.
- 2022: Dr. Jeff Maliskey is hired as the inaugural Pride Center director and the Center becomes an official department on campus.