Award-Winning Transsexual

On imposter syndrome, DEI work, and "being revolutionary".

This past week, I was awarded the 2024 College of Engineering Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Award at my place of work, the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This honor is given to only one faculty or staff per year (as well as one student) and is a way to recognize the often-challenging service work that our Engineering community does.

I am incredibly thankful to receive this recognition by the University! Often times, I feel like I’m the only one who cares about the massive load of granular work that I do every day to support students, especially queer and trans students. So, particularly in an era where DEI work is under massive backlash by far-right actors, it’s very nice to be recognized for this labor!

That said, I have other feelings that complicate my gratitude.