New Director Named to Sexual Gender, Diversity Center

Bernadette Brown has been named the new director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD) at Duke University. “She brings strong management skills, expertise in LGBTQ issues, theories and perspectives,” said Zoila Airall, Duke’s assistant vice president of campus life. “Her colleagues describe her as someone they will miss because of her encyclopedic mind, engaging sense of humor and commitment to social justice issues.”Brown comes to Duke from the California-based National Council on Crime and Delinquency, where she focused on LGBT youth within the juvenile justice system. She begins work at Duke Jan. 5, with Duke still commemorating “Queering Duke History,” an examination of 50 years of LGBT life on campus. “I'm tremendously excited about working with everyone to continue this work and explore new paths to promote and support LGBTQI inclusion,” Brown said. “Many of these students come here struggling to determine if they are going to be ’out,’ some are dealing with family conflict, and some are trying to reconcile their religious and/or political beliefs. The same is true for many of Duke's faculty and staff. These are serious concerns and CSGD is here to support them as they move through this journey.”At the national council, Brown has helped lead a project to improve stability for LGBTQI youth in California’s child welfare and juvenile justice system.“My work is really about facilitating interpersonal and institutional relationships that will create equity and inclusivity for those of us who are members of the LGBTQI community so that none of our identities are ignored,” Brown saidStephanie Helms Pickett, director of Duke’s Women’s Center, met with Brown during the lengthy interview process. “I found Bernadette to be excited about building upon the foundation and powerful history of the work of the center through engaging with the community,” Helms Pickett said. “Personally, I am excited about the depth and expertise I believe she will bring to the Campus Life team.”A Detroit native, Brown has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Columbia University and a juris doctorate from the Boston University School of Law. She has conducted numerous trainings and presentations on social justice and the LGBT community and most recently was invited by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to submit recommendations on the equitable treatment of LGBTQ youth.