Date of Award

2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Within higher education, trans* students have become more visible and advocacy for them important. To support these claims, scholars have conducted research and produced literature on trans* college students’ identity development and experiences on campuses. However, the lived experiences of trans* educators working in colleges and universities are missing from the literature, consequently from the minds of scholars, practitioners, and administrators alike. Trans* educators experiences are important because they contribute to shifts in higher education conversations around supporting and affirming trans* people on campus. Trans* educators are mentors, advisors, and role-models, teachers, and advocates, and perhaps knowing their journey and how they can better be supported on and off campus will allow them to continue fulfilling their roles on campus and thrive in higher education. Additionally, knowing their journeys better can help expand notions of gender in their offices, departments, units and the university as a whole. The purpose of this study is to help make more visible the lives of trans* postsecondary educators, while expanding notions of gender. Applying portraiture methodology, with semi-structured interviews and a participant- observation, this study identified the critical roles of identity, relationships, and community in trans* educators’ experiences.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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