“Trans* in College,” by Z Nicolazzo, focuses on the role college campuses can play in developing welcoming communities. The GERC/CLICK collaboration begins June 1 and will continue every Tuesday for six sessions until Aug. 10.

The Gender Equity Resource Center (GERC) is working in conjunction with the Center for Learning, Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC) this summer to facilitate a six-week book club in which participants will be reading “Trans* in College” by Z Nicolazzo.

While the book club will be exploring the college experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender variant students, the main goal of the summer book club is to consult ways in which participants can help to create a more inclusive campus environment.

Throughout each session, which will meet every Tuesday starting June 1, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. via Zoom, presentations and discussions will be incorporated to understand what participants learn about their own lives and on the UWS campus. Context, definitions, and terminology will all be provided for each meeting.

“Trans* in College” focuses on how college campuses can reflect on strategies to develop welcoming communities through many areas of higher education, such as pedagogy, curriculum, and institutional practices. The book highlights a variety of firsthand accounts of trans students’ difficulty navigating college life in institutions that do not work enough to represent nor accept them. Academic in tone but ultimately geared toward systemic change, “Trans* in College” is a needed resource for educators at all levels of instruction when it comes to fostering inclusive communities for gender diverse students.

Students, instructors, and staff interested in joining the summer book club hosted by GERC/CLIC are not required to attend with prior knowledge of the issues discussed in “Trans* in College,” but are encouraged to share in the community. Participants are likewise not required to attend every single one of the six summer book club meetings, but are more than welcome to.

The summer book club is first come, first filled, so any and all interested need to RSVP by May 10, 2021 to clic@uwsuper.edu. Any interested in previewing “Trans* in College” by Z Nicolazzo can find it on the Jim Dan Hill Library (JDHL) website. Books will be ordered for participants to keep once the RSVP passes or completely fills, and they will be available at the JDHL for participants to pick up prior to the first meeting on June 1, 2021.