Her lecture, “Leadership for Safe and Inclusive Schools: An Examination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Educators’ Perceptions of School Climate” was sponsored by the Department of Educational Foundations and the Leadership for Teaching and Learning M.Ed. program and MU Allies.

Completing her undergrad at Gettysburg College and her master’s degree at Millersville University, Wright admitted her own struggle in navigating the school system, as an undergrad, saying that during student observations and student teaching, she did not want to “out” herself as a lesbian to the teacher evaluating her.

Valuing relationships with teachers and students in her profession she said, “Before I encountered the program here at Millersville, I didn’t know of any school leaders that cared about relationships.”

Considering struggles of LGBT educators, Wright looked at literature on school safety, history of homophobia, in developing her dissertation.

According to Wright, historically the perspective of hiring teachers within schools has reflected traditional gender roles in heterosexual marriage, and part of the McCarthy Era involved making sure that there were no homosexual teachers influencing students.

Today only 16 states provide protection for LGBT teachers, preventing them from being fired for their sexual orientation.

“It’s the collapse of the political and the personal. Everything I do because I am gay becomes political,” Justin Gilmore, who is Vice president of External affairs for MU Allies, a gender and sexuality alliance, said.

Wright also referenced research which shows that teachers, who feel safe, have a higher sense of self-adequacy, are more willing to have good attendance and stay after school, all these things lead to more student achievement.

Inspired by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educational Network, which publishes a report on school climate based on their biannual survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students, Wright used Survey Monkey software to study teachers from across the country who defined themselves as LGBT, or other non-traditional sexual definitions.

Following a pilot study, the URL for a national survey was sent to various academic, religious, and other organizations,and fliers were posted at pride festivals. Although 514 participants were surveyed, not all of them finished the 171 question survey, leaving some margin for error in the demographics.

Wright broke up the data into regions and considered variables of age, school type, GSA involvement, and number of absences from work and by dissecting five domains including, how people experience homophobia in schools, principal support, policies in place, feelings of safety, and “outness.”

Using a factor analysis to determine the validity of these domains, the policy and safety domains were further divided into two factors, including policies of human rights, such as health care for life partners, and policies upholding non-abusive language, and job safety, and personal safety. Wright set out to prove a model for her dissertation that all the factors would predict safety, and would lead to outness.

One conclusion made was that age matters to LGBT educators’ perception of principal support. Noting the changing culture, Wright said teachers 43-50 years of age had a tougher role in the past. Teachers in this range were found to be more cautious about revealing their sexual orientation, as were young teachers just beginning their career.

Also, regional teachers of the Southern and Midwestern states felt less safe, and fewer policies were in place to protect them from bullying language.

According to Wright, the fact that teachers in kindergarten through fourth grade schools felt the least amount of job safety goes back to fear of homosexuals being perceived as pedophiles.

Although her data did not provide a full predictive path of personal support and policies of bulling language supported personal safety, while policies of human rights predicted job safety, job safety and personal safety did predict outness.

Gilmore, who is a history education major, believes finding a school that fosters outness is a necessity. He said, “I’m going to have to find a school district that does enable me to be an activist and be able to speak for students who feel discriminated against.”

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University President Dr. Francine McNairy, and University provost, Dr. Vilas Prabhu, spoke at the event on Dec. 11, to mark the beginning of a center focused on the University’s devotion to community involvement.

The goal of the ELC is to support regional economic development by creating programs for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

One of the ways that the ELC plans to reach out to the community is through offering entrepreneurial seminars and assistance. Dr. Melvin Allen, will serve as the Project Director of ELC.

Dr. Allen also directs the Civic and Community Engagement and Research Project (CCERP), another organization promoting regional economic development.

Other professors involved with this project include Dr. Marlene Arnold, who acts as a liaison between the ELC and local businesses; and Dr. Jean Kabongo, who will focus efforts on guiding faculty to incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into everyday courses. Kabongo also leads the new student Entrepreneurship Club.

A major emphasis of the ELC will be on developing Asian business connections, particularly with China.

This will allow the relationship that Millersville has made by bringing businesspeople from China to its campus through the Shanghai Executive Training Program for the past 10 years to come full cycle.

A business delegation will head to China this June for a sequence of seminars with Chinese business leaders.

The visit overlaps with the World Expo held in Shanghai, where an anticipated 70 million visitors will gather for international business exhibitions and networking.

The opening of “China Desk” also supports the importance that the ELC places on international relations.

Led by Dr. Enyang Guo, the China Desk will provide personal consultation for small businesses and capitalists seeking opportunities to do business with China.

Funded by a three-year grant from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, the ELC will pay for itself by charging fees for the services it provides to entrepreneurs.

Anyone who is interested in getting involved with the ELC may contact them at elc@millersville.edu or 717-872-3567.

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That person is Shannon Custer. Custer was the first student at Millersville University to be awarded the Peter Buchanan Scholarship. Custer was one of four who were chosen to win the award.

Every year, the Peter Buchanan Scholarship Program in conjunction with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and Affiliated Student Achievement Program (CASE ASAP) receives scholarship nominees from more than 300 campuses in America. This scholarship is awarded to students based on their involvement in an organization and how they emerge as a leader.

If selected as a winner, recipients receive money toward the cost of attending a national leadership convention. In 2009, the Student Ambassadors National Convention was held in Inner Harbor Baltimore, Md. It was here that students from more than 100 schools came together to participate in a leadership convention.

Custer, along with her co-president, performed a presentation for recruitment into Millersville University Student Ambassadors (MUSA). Ice-breaker games were played to learn more about the people attending the convention.

Among the many accomplishments gained by attending the convention, Custer and the MUSA placed in the top four for the spirit award and performed a show spreading their MU pride. She received a special opportunity to speak to the president of CASE ASAP one-on-one.

Custer said, “I walked away feeling proud that all my hard work paid off.” She was also thankful for the opportunity she had to learn more about her peers in MUSA and for her new found confidence. This confidence will become essential as she oversees the Student Ambassadors as president this year.

Custer is a woman of leadership. Attending Arch Bishop Ryan Catholic High School started her off in the right direction. She was president of the Sign Language Club, a track athlete, a member of the National Honor Society, a member of the year book staff, and secretary for an organization called Ryan for Life. Her leadership skills started at a young age and continue to blossom in her college career.

As the new students of Millersville University try to get acquainted with the campus, and returning students get back into the swing of things, it may seem hard to break away from college chaos. However, it is essential not only for the growth of Millersville as a campus but for individual growth that students become part of something bigger than themselves. Defying a hearing impairment, Custer answers the phone in the alumni office. Busy, but still finding time, she organizes paperwork for the alumni association and plans homecoming events. As a student, she meets every deadline while still finding time to preside over an organization.

“I just wanted to say that MUSA is a prestigious organization, which connects students with alumni. I wouldn’t have gotten through college without the people of this group. They are my support, and some of my best friends. In the end, going to this convention just brings us closer and we learn things about each other we would not on campus,” Custer said.

Instead of shirking away from leadership roles students could have on campus, they could learn from Custer. Joining an organization is beneficial. Students can gain a new support system away from home, members can become best friends, and they can learn to grow as a community as they learn more about each other. Students should follow in her footsteps and leave an imprint of their own.

New applications for the Peter Buchanan Scholarship are due by April 9, 2010 and will later be made available by accessing http://www.case.org.

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