West Virginia University at Parkersburg will host Dr. Cris Mayo, distinguished scholar in the field of gender studies, on Monday, Nov. 26 for two transgender awareness training sessions. Both trainings, sponsored by WVU Parkersburg’s Social Justice Committee, are free and open to the public.

Dr. Mayo will conduct a session from 12:15 – 1 p.m. and again from 5 – 6:30 p.m. in the college theater. The afternoon session will be streamed live at the Jackson County Center in room 206. The extended, evening training will be interactive and include video segments.

In addition to basic information about transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, the training will provide strategies for assessing gender-inclusivity of living and learning spaces, recreational facilities, forms, policies, teaching methods, and curricula, as well as using inclusive pronouns and chosen names.

“We have invited Dr. Mayo to come to our campus to promote education and awareness about what it means for someone to be transgender,” said Debbie Richards, WVU Parkersburg specialist assistant to the president for policy and social justice. “Awareness programs like this help to create a more inclusive and accepting society for all.”

Dr. Mayo is director of the LGBTQ+ Center and Women’s Resource Center, and professor of women’s and gender studies at West Virginia University. Her books, “Disputing the Subject of Sex” and “LGBTQ Youth and Schools: Policies and Practices,” are both American Educational Studies Association Critics’ Choice Award winners. In 2017, she published “Gay-Straight Alliances and Associations Among Youth” which focuses on how young people form relationships despite sexuality, gender, race, or education level, and work together to create more positive school environments.

For more information about this event, contact Debbie Richards at Debbie.Richards@wvup.edu or 304.424.8201.