Katherine Charek Briggs
Assistant Dean & Director (interim)
katherine.charekbriggs@wisc.edu
Katherine Charek Briggs is the Interim Associate Director of the LGBT Campus Center and the librarian of the LGBTQ Resource Library. KCB is also currently on the board of the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals nationally, and in Madison helps organize LGBT Books to Prisoners and the Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition. Katherine is invested in information access, literacy, and transparency, and finds a center in working towards transformative relationships and liberatory community spaces.
Tiffany Lee
Crossroads Coordinator
Tiffany Lee is a Black queer femme from York City. She has Master’s degrees in Gender and Women’s Studies and Afro-American Studies from UW Madison. Her scholarship and activism are centered on queer folk of color. She enjoys (good) spoken word, clever Internet memes, and challenging oppressive structures – small and large. She is extremely excited to bring her passion and experience to help create and sustain an empowering environment for queer people and our allies on this campus.
Jelani Rivera
Program Coordinator
Jelani Rivera is a Puerto Rican, Transgender Man from the Bronx, New York. He graduated from UW-Madison with a Bachelor’s of Science in Rehabilitation Psychology. Throughout his time at UW, he was dedicated to centering the experiences of and advocating for students of color and LGBTQ+ identified students, both individually and at the dynamic intersections therein. He hopes to use his experiences to continue to be a supportive change agent for Queer UW students and their allies.
Jess Draws
Program Coordinator
Jess Draws is a Program Coordinator at the LGBT Campus Center. She has a Master’s of Social Work from UW-Madison. She’s interested in learning more about healthy relationships, juvenile justice, the history and future of the social work profession, and watching cooking videos on YouTube. Ask her about any of the above next time you see her!
Student staff
Hannah Pendergast
Hannah is a proud PEOPLE Scholar in her second year from Racine. She currently is leaning towards a undergraduate degree in Legal Studies, but still is exploring her different paths and hobbies. As the Leadership and Program Coordinator at the LGBTCC, she is passionate about being able to bring together marginalized communities through various programs. But most of all, she focuses on delivering a fun and safe space for all students on campus.
Meara Sweetnam
Event and Accessibility Coordinator
Meara Sweetnam is the Event and Accessibility Coordinator. They are majoring in Gender and Women’s Studies, along with LGBT Studies, and Studio Art. Meara grew up in Madison,WI and is passionate about creating positive change in the community while they are here. They participate in a number of community organizations including LGBT Books to Prisoners, Queer Pressure, and the Trans Research Lab, which build queer spaces and practice activism in and around LGBTQ+ identity and its many intersections. Much of Meara’s research centers around queer identity and mental health. They are passionate about destigmatizing mental illness and forging greater access to culturally competent mental health care for queer and trans folks.
Dequadray White
Hailing all the way from Forest Park, Dequadray White is a Sophomore who is double majoring in Art with a focus in Graphic Design and Communication Arts with a focus in TV, Radio, and Film. He is a First Wave Scholar a part of the 10th Cohort due to his talents in visual arts and spoken word. He was a feature at Just Bust, a monthly open mic on campus, as well as many other campus events. He served as the GSA Chair for Sellery Hall in the year 2016 – 2017, facilitated poetry workshops within the community with The JVN Project, and helped create jewelry for BRWN GRLZ, a brand started by a UW alumni that makes jewelry and multiple forms of media to uplift women of color. He now serves as the Crossroads Intern at the LGBT Campus Center hoping to continue to create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students of color on campus.
Simone Williams
Simone Williams (they/them/theirs) is a queer, trans, mixed race multidisciplinary working artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Simone hopes to dismantle the heteronormative, white supremacist, ableist, capitalist, patriarchy through art, education& liberation while maintaining an ability to laugh and rejoice in the small things. Simone is a First Wave Scholar at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the eleventh cohort. Their favorite fruit is pears.
Cecil Leigh Wilson
Graduate Student Staff
cecil leigh wilson is a trans, crip, & queer graduate student in the dept. of german, nordic, and slavic. ze teaches russian language/literature and quelp; hir research interests are queerness and disability in russian literature, slavic science fiction, and pedagogical strategies for autistic teachers. ze loves cephalopods, fiber crafts, the color range between burgundy and eggplant, and conrad veidt.
Social Work Interns
Alexandra Little
Alexandra (or Allie, either one is great!) Little is a part-time graduate student. They graduated with their bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison in 2015, and is currently working toward their master’s in Social Work. They are passionate about: victim advocacy, healthy relationships, affirmative consent culture, winter hats with pompoms, and photos of impossibly small dogs. In addition to interning at the CC, they work for UHS-Violence Prevention & Survivor Services and sit on the 24th session of ASM’s student council. Feel free to ask them about any of the above, and more!