Elon University recently named Matthew Antonio Bosch as the first director for its Gender and LGBTQ Center. He will assume the position mid-July.
He will work with the offices of Academic Affairs and Student Life to raise awareness regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, according to an email sent by Smith Jackson, vice president and dean of student life.
Bosch has served as president of the Minnesota College Personnel Association and is a current member of the governing board of the American College Personnel Association. He also helped manage LGBTQ-related issues at Macalester College, the University of Minnesota and Minnesota’s North Hennepin Community College.
Bosch will also serve as the new adviser to Spectrum, Elon’s queer-straight alliance. He will replace Kirstin Ringelberg, coordinator of the LGBTQ office and art history professor.
Ringelberg said she is pleased Bosch will soon fill her role, which has been difficult to manage while fulfilling her responsibilities as a full-time professor.
“I think it’s a tremendously important step forward that we have located and hired an experienced and knowledgeable full-time person who can really move us forward in a way I would never be able to do, in terms of time but especially on the basis of expertise,” she said.
Senior Lauren Clapp, an advocacy and education chair for Spectrum, said Bosch will frequently interact with the student body by giving presentations to Elon 101 classes about LGBTQ life, organizing speakers to come to campus and serving as both an advocate and an educator concerning LGBTQ and gender issues.
Class expressed excitement about Bosch’s appointment.
“I’m really ecstatic about the creation of this new position,” she said. “It says to me that the administration takes issues of LGBTQ inclusion seriously on campus and wants to be proactive about supporting the LGBTQ community here.”