Pride All Year Long: How LGBTQIA+ Employees Can Embrace Authenticity at Work

As the inaugural director of two LGBTQ+ student centers, Dr. Van Bailey uses practical on-the-ground knowledge to inform strategies for organizational change. Van is a student affairs educator, international speaker and diversity consultant. With over thirteen years of experience in higher education and nonprofits, His speeches and workshops relate to LGBTQ+ student leadership, pedagogical practice, and intersectionality. He has been noted for his work in higher education by being listed in Business Equality Magazine’s 40 under 40 LGBTQ Leaders, Trans 100 and the National Black Justice Coalition’s 100 to Watch LBGTQ/SGL Emerging Leaders. He was the co-chair for the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, in which he assisted in the restructuring of the leadership board, mission, vision, and goals. Dr. Bailey, a collective member of bklyn boihood, are Lambda Literary award finalists, and his published work has been featured on NPR, the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, the Feminist Wire, and Buzzfeed. As a diversity specialist, Van has worked with constituents internationality in addressing equity and inclusion on college campuses. Currently, he is the Director of Bias Incident Support Services at University of Maryland.

Dr. Bailey was the Assistant Dean/Director for the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment for George Mason University. He was the inaugural Director of the LGBTQ Student Center at the University of Miami. He has also served as the inaugural Director of BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard College. In that role, he established a college-wide resource center for LGBTQ+ students. Before Harvard College, he was the Assistant Director for Education at the University of California, San Diego from 2010-2012. Additionally, he worked at California State University, Northridge, for three years, first as Community Director and then as Senior Community Director in Residence Life and Housing. Dr. Bailey was awarded an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from California State University-Northridge, a MA from Ohio State University in Higher Education and Student Affairs, and a BA in black studies and English from Denison University.