OSTEM provides community for LGBTQ students – Murray State News
Ava Chuppe
Staff Writer
achuppe@murraystate.edu
Alliance, the social organization for LGBTQ students at Murray State, has expanded into professional development with new groups known as oSTEM and Cultivating Change.
oSTEM is the result of a collaboration between the Pride Center and students, faculty and staff in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. It is part of a national organization with opportunity for students to network and attend conferences with other LGBTQ students pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) across the country.
The group, which held its first meeting on Thursday, Aug. 25, is advised by faculty members Jessica Moon, assistant professor of wetland ecology, and Reigh Kemp, program coordinator of the ADVANCE grant for equity in STEM. Abigail Cox, director of the Pride Center, serves as a liaison to provide support from Student Affairs.
In future meetings, the group will discuss various issues that LGBTQ people face in STEM, with hopes to empower students to pursue their careers of choice.
oSTEM President Bec Cahoe said their Zoom meetings and email correspondence with the national chapter so far have demonstrated the passion for queer representation and opportunities in STEM.
“I’m looking forward to introducing Murray to that kind of community that I think is easy to forget exists when we don’t have someone to show us,” Cahoe said.
Cahoe said they appreciate the opportunity for LGBTQ STEM majors to realize they are not alone, even in a largely heterosexual and cisgender environment.
“I’m excited for LGBTQ STEM majors … getting to hear … professionals share their stories of what navigating their respective fields has been like—the highs and the lows, the reality,” Cahoe said.
The mission of the nonprofit organization is to “[empower] LGBTQ people in STEM to succeed personally, academically and professionally by cultivating environments and communities that nurture innovation, leadership and advocacy,” according to the national oSTEM website.
The initiative began in October 2005, when International Business Machines sponsored the Out for Work conference at the Human Rights Campaign’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meeting’s attendees established oSTEM as a national technical organization for LGBTQ students.
Alliance has also expanded professional development through Cultivating Change, a group dedicated to LGBTQ students in the field of agriculture.
Cultivating Change Secretary Olivia Martin said the group was founded because of a lack of acknowledgement of the LGBTQ community in the field.
“[There are] not very many individuals who felt comfortable [enough] for others to know that they were affiliated,” Martin said.
Martin said her group’s goals are to provide a safe, inclusive network for all of those who wish to discuss LGBTQ issues, whether they are part of the community or an ally.
“We focus on education, community [and] raising awareness and promote inclusion and visibility for LGBTQ individuals in the Hutson School of Agriculture and Murray State as a whole,” Martin said. “We are a very supportive and inclusive group of individuals who are working toward not only community at Murray State but professional development opportunities as well.”
Murray State’s group represents one chapter of the Cultivating Change Collegiate Affiliate Program, which aims “to promote academic and professional advancement by empowering Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender (LGBT) collegiate agriculturists,” according to its website.
Students interested in oSTEM or Cultivating Change can sign up by emailing murraystate.ostem@gmail.com or cultivatingchange.msu@gmail.com, respectively. They can also sign up through the Pride Center.