The Syracuse University Division of Student Affairs has named D. Chase James Catalano as the new director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center. Catalano replaces current director Adrea Jaehnig, who is leaving the University and relocating this summer. Catalano’s appointment is effective Aug. 1.
Catalano is currently a doctoral candidate in social justice education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he has designed and taught various courses and workshops addressing social justice and diversity in higher education, racism, sexism, identity, oppression and liberation.
“Social justice education has given me additional language, theoretical frameworks and broader views to understand systems of oppression and privilege,” says Catalano. “In my doctoral work, I am able to complicate identity through exploring institutional systems, dominant culture, subversive paradigms and the multiplicity of identities through which we view experiences.”
He also worked as assistant residence director for residence life at UMass-Amherst from 2003-09, serving for two of those years as the primary supervisor to the resident assistant of the “2 in 20 Community,” a floor comprised of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and ally (LGBTQQA) students.
“We are very excited to welcome Chase to both our campus and Syracuse communities,” says Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, associate vice president of inclusion, community, and citizenship in the Division of Student Affairs. “He brings a wealth of knowledge of student development theory, social justice and issues impacting the LGBT community. Chase’s experiences will greatly enhance the work of the LGBT Resource Center and the Division of Student Affairs.”
Catalano holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies, with a gender studies concentration, from Dickinson College, and a master’s degree in higher education administration from UMass-Amherst. He has substantial presentation and teaching experience, and served for three years on the leadership team of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ Knowledge Community on LGBT Issues.
Catalano looks forward to connecting with students on integrating queer issues with other aspects of social justice and identity awareness and development, and discussing how their lived experiences are not detached from, or devoid of the content of their classroom education. “I hope to be able to work with students and colleagues in discussions about topics and issues that engage the many aspects of student and academic life on the campus,” says Catalano. “The LGBT Resource Center has many successful programs and resources already established, and I am inspired to imagine future possibilities.”
