coordinator His work naturally began at MSU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in educational psychology and policy and a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Hawkins’ efforts as a student senator and president of Spectrum, the university’s gay-straight alliance, eventually caught the attention of the Human Rights Campaign, which hired him to help carry out an $8.5 million investment to bring more LGBTQ+ programs to the South. While he was passionate about that work, Hawkins was eager to get back to his first love – higher education. That calling led him to UMSL in July, where he has since taken on several projects, including reviving UMSL’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, chairing the St. Louis Transgender Spectrum Conference as it returns to UMSL’s campus in November and helping create a citywide LGBTQ+ student group. But most of all, it’s his direct work as a liaison to faculty and staff and adviser to students that motivates his efforts. “Growing up as a gay man, you didn’t see a lot of LGBTQ+ professionals outside of celebrities, musicians or artists,” Hawkins says. “But now we have more people that are out and living their truth. For me, being a mentor for students – either directly or indirectly – I take that very, very seriously. To say, ‘Yes, you can be out, you can be in a career and you can be happy.’ We’re all lucky to be at a place like UMSL where you can.”
Harry Hawkins’ new position as UMSL’s diversity and LGBTQ+ program and project support coordinator was first presented to administrators by students involved in PRIZM, UMSL’s queer-transgender-straight alliance. Hawkins, who joined the university staff in July, believes the vision of these advocates “speaks to the heart and soul of our students on this campus.”
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