Adrea Jaehnig, director of Syracuse University’s LGBT Resource Center, will be leaving her position in July. A nationwide search for a replacement director will begin soon, Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, associate vice president of inclusion, community and citizenship, said in an e-mail.

Kantrowitz, who will be involved in the search for a new director, said students, as well as faculty and staff members, will be very involved in the search process.

‘We will want the new director to build upon the very strong, vibrant and wonderful work that Adrea and her staff have done in building SU’s LGBT Resource Center,’ Kantrowitz said.

Jaehnig’s partner was offered a job in Maine, and they are both relocating there before the beginning of the fall semester, Jaehnig said.

Jaehnig has been the director of the Resource Center since it was created in 2001.

‘Every year has been different,’ she said. ‘There’ve been different challenges and progress that has been made with every year.’

The resource center has contributed much to the LGBT community at SU, including the addition of gender identity to the university’s non-discrimination policy, Jaehnig said. Jaehnig said she is proud of the advantages that the center gave to SU students and the university since she took the position as director.

There are approximately 130 universities in the United States with LGBT centers, or about 4 percent of universities nationwide, she said.

‘I think that shows the leadership that SU has taken, and I think the open environment for people to be themselves,’ Jaehnig said. ‘It has an extension beyond the LGBT community.’

smtracey@syr.edu

Published on February 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm