Events
Audre Lorde Luncheon
The 2022 Audre Lorde Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, April 13th 12-1 pm in MSC 2708.
The Audre Lorde Luncheon is an annual luncheon in which we reflect on the strides towards LGBTQ+ inclusion championed at the Tampa campus over the last year. We take a look at what to expect in the year ahead and ways that each of us can continue to be involved in creating an even more inclusive campus that celebrates our LGBTQ+ population here at USF. We recognize and honor our campus partners, the Safe Zone facilitation team, and others in the roles they play in the success of LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty.
This luncheon is named after Audre Lorde to pay tribute to the life and legacy of the poet, scholar, feminist, and queer woman of color. Audre Lorde started her contribution to the LGBTQ+ movement in the 1960s, but her work continues to impact both scholars and practitioners.
For far too long, queer and trans+ people of color have been erased from history books and stories of the LGBTQ+ movement. It is our responsibility as allies and advocates across campus to ensure these voices are in the room, and to keep those voices at the center of key conversations. Audre Lorde, as a queer woman of color, dedicated her life to both confronting and addressing issues of sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia, as well as the intersections of these different forms of oppression. Audre Lorde put it even more plainly when she said 鈥測our silence will not protect you.鈥� We should take this as a call to action, as allies and advocates to continually break the silence on these key issues and commit to our work towards creating a more inclusive USF campus.
2020 Safe Zone Facilitators
Courtney Durbin
Dr. Daniel Cruz-Ramirez de Arellano
Dr. Devona F. Pierre
Dominique Boyer
Donovin Widmann
Emmanuel Harvey
Jennifer Iceton
Kashif Basaria
Katya Viegas
Kristofer Newsome
Ren Bradley-Tyler
Madina Behori
Melanie Perez
Dr. Rebecca Lopez
Sabeehah Ravat
Shane Combs
2020 Safe Zone Facilitator of the Year - Ren Bradley-Tyler
Our Safe Zone Facilitator of the Year is someone who enthusiastically reaches for every opportunity to facilitate Safe Zone trainings. Ren has been a valuable partner to the Office of Multicultural Affairs since she started working at USF in 2018. She supports many OMA events by attending and bringing her students (sometimes begrudgingly) downstairs. She has filled in last minute on many occasions for Safe Zone sessions, and often is the first to volunteer for special Safe Zone trainings as requested by other departments. She has counseled other facilitators, provided valuable feedback on curriculum, and is overall a great team player. She has also flaunted her facilitation skills at QTPOC & Coffee. It is always a pleasure to work with her. She is an extremely valuable member of our team. Her expertise and passion shines through every time she facilitates.
2020 Campus Partner of the Year - The Counseling Center
Our Campus Partner of the Year is a department that collaborates often with OMA on LGBTQ+ initiatives and many other diversity initiatives. This department has a consistent presence in OMA鈥檚 LGBTQ+ programming throughout the year. At this year鈥檚 LGBTQ+ and Ally Ice Cream Social, they had by far the largest tabling presence, engaging participants in many aspects of health and wellness at USF. Throughout the fall semester, they hosted the Let鈥檚 Talk series in the OMA office space in order to incentivize diverse students who were already utilizing our space to enter a conversation with a mental health professional. Members of the Counseling Center鈥檚 team facilitated at both the September and December iteration of QPTOC & Coffee, and they were represented at the Stonewall Suites December Wellness Event. Finally, the LGBTQ+ and TrueSelves support groups provide meaningful space for LGBTQ+ students to engage in mental health conversations that positively impact their identity development and sense of belonging at USF. The Counseling Center has consistently committed time and energy to LGBTQ+ initiatives, and their institutional support and commitment is indispensable in OMA鈥檚 success.
2020 Outstanding Student Leader - Nataliya Kuzmin
Nataliya Kuzmin earns the 2020 Outstanding Student Leader award because of her commitment to LGBTQ+ initiatives in OMA. She is highly involved in student leadership on campus, both within OMA and outside of it. Not only is she double majoring in Psychology and Russian and in the Honors College program, she volunteers every week at a local clinic and remains active within her residence hall on campus. Nataliya has been involved with OMA for years as the MCC representative for both PRIDE Alliance and Russian Club. She serves on the executive board of both of these organizations, lending essential expertise in management of multiple logistical concerns. She has worked in OMA as the Undergraduate Intern for LGBTQ+ Initiatives since October 2019. She has taken the mantle on managing Queer Coalition in the spring semester and has presented many innovative ideas for collaboration, including events for Trans Day of Remembrance and Trans Day of Visibility. She is diligent, hard-working, and has a keen eye for detail. She goes above and beyond to ensure her work is of the highest quality possible. She has emerged as a leader within the OMA student staff team, bringing new student staff up to speed and teaching others about best practices. She deeply cares about USF and has devoted countless hours to making USF the best place for LGBTQ+ students possible. Nataliya is the definition of an outstanding student leader.
2020 Ally of the Year - Jennifer Iceton
She has been instrumental in the success of LGBTQ+ initiatives, both in OMA and across campus. As a Safe Zone facilitator and co-chair of CISOGI, she has contributed a tremendous amount of time and energy to support LGBTQ+ initiatives. She teaches almost every single Safe Zone: Advocacy and is extremely passionate about teaching others the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. She works hard to make sure CISOGI鈥檚 initiatives are successful, being highly strategic and developing multiple sub-committees to accomplish CISOGI鈥檚 key goals in a more focused way. She has brought organization, stability, and tenacity to her role. She is always super responsive when OMA puts out a call for help, whether for promoting OMA鈥檚 events or for Safe Zone. She significantly contributed to the success of the Audre Lorde Luncheon itself, serving as a co-presenter and helping to promote the event. She鈥檚 an example of someone who uses her position of privilege to advocate for others in meaningful ways.