A Syracuse University adjunct professor who’s worked to advocate for the local queer community for years is now taking on a new role as interim director of the university’s LGBT Resource Center.

Rob Pusch, who helps oversee the Project Advance program that offers SU classes to area high school students, also served on the University Senate’s Committee on LGBT Concerns from 1998 to 2015.

Despite his long-term involvement in the queer community, Pusch said he does not want to be the center’s permanent director. He was appointed to the position after previous director Tiffany Gray took a position at West Chester University earlier this semester.

“I have no plans to apply for the permanent position. I enjoy what I do at Project Advance, adjunct teaching in the instructional design, development and evaluation program and working with graduate students,” Pusch said in an email.

Director of LGBT studies Robin Riley said the interim position will hold the center together during a time of transition. She said Pusch is a strong advocate for raising awareness about LGBTQ issues both on campus and in the surrounding community.

Although Pusch has no long-term commitment to his position, he still has some plans for the center. He said the “scary” sociopolitical time across the United States has created a climate of fear and anxiety for many underrepresented groups.

“Given the current climate, it is important that the resource center has the support it needs to continue with (its) mission on this campus,” Pusch said. “My major role is to ensure that the voices of the SU LGBTQIA community is heard in this search (for a new director).”

Pusch first joined the university community in 1987 while working on his graduate degree in instructional design, development and evaluation. He joined the USen Committee on LGBT Concerns on campus in 1998. While on the committee, Pusch said he worked to educate the campus community about LGBTQ issues, helped bring speakers to campus and organized a transgender teach-in.

Pusch is active in the Syracuse queer community and in 1998 was part of a group that campaigned to pass nondiscriminatory, LGBT-inclusive laws at the county-level.

“One was passed based on sexual orientation, but we failed at getting one passed that was trans-inclusive. And that was a fight,” Pusch said. “It was a time when the letters you saw in the names of community organization was LGB, only rarely LGBT, and in many places, including parts of the Syracuse LGB community, there was a lot of transphobia.”

This type of discrimination is not new for Pusch. He had similar experiences when working on his master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder, he said.

“I was out as a lesbian at a time when STEM fields were, one, had issues with women in fields like chemistry and, two, homophobic,” Pusch said. “Even in a place that was perceived as progressive, the chemistry department was not.”

Pusch wants to start planning for fall 2018 to ensure the administrative aspect of his new job is completed. He’s also a part of the search for a permanent director and said he feels his experience in the LGBTQ community at SU will be helpful with those efforts.

Pusch also serves on dissertation committees and works with master’s students looking for instructional design, development and evaluation experience.

Published on December 5, 2017 at 10:29 pm

Contact Jessi: jmsopori@syr.edu