Here are bios of our course participants. Look for their posts as we travel!

Kayden Habron

I’m Kayden Habron, and I’m a junior studying Elementary and Special Education at Purdue University. I use the pronouns he/him/his or they/them/theirs. I am a member of the Purdue student chapter of the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, or NOGLSTP at Purdue for short, so a member of NOGLSTP at Purdue has gone on this trip for all three years it’s been taking place. I enjoy being a member of that organization because we hold so many events to educate people about LGBTQ+ issues and honor those who identify as LGBTQ+, such as our Annual LGBTQ Film Festival and our Transgender Day of Remembrance observance. I’ve also helped found a new unofficial student organization called Trans*Purdue. I’d found that transgender students at Purdue didn’t have an organization that they could go to that was focused specifically for their needs, as the T in LGBTQ+ was often forgotten in the L, G, and B of the acronym. We’ve chosen a h
orizontal power structure for this organization, so I’m interested in seeing how ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) has used this power structure for so long as the membership of the New York chapter has included anywhere from 6 people to 450 people. I’m also excited to visit so many historical sites and museums while we’re abroad, as I have a strong interest in history, and I’ve been interested in
studying abroad for a while now. I hope you enjoy reading about our experiences from the comfort of your home while we’re abroad!

Erin  Osborn

Hello, my name is Erin Osborn and I am double majoring in Psychology and Law and Society while also pursuing a minor in LGBTQ studies. I’ve always been fascinated by the way people think and what drives them to do the things they do. I study Psychology because it aligns with my interests, but also because I am very committed to helping others. I want every person to believe that they matter and that their life is meaningful. I love to help other people realize their potential, and I want to play a role in helping them reach it. I’m interested in LGBTQ studies because I want to promote understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ community. I’m excited to have been chosen for this study abroad opportunity because I see it as a chance for me to grow personally. I’m excited for the new experiences ahead (I’ve never been out of the country!) but also for the knowledge that I will gain. I’m eager to apply the things I learn to my everyday life, and I can’t wai to get started.

Avery Sameshima

Avery Sameshima is an undergraduate student majoring in Hospitality & Tourism Management and double-minoring in Organizational Leadership & Supervision and LGBT Studies. During the school year, most of his time is spent on academics and working as the Student Manager at Harrison Grille (located in Purdue’s Harrison Residence Hall). His interests deal with the hospitality industry and food, media, performing arts, and anything queer. Looking forward to the future, Avery hopes to be working with boutique restaurants and/or franchises. The peculiarities, specifics, and very defined markets of these types of establishments is something that fascinates and inspires Avery.

Concerning this trip, Avery is most excited to see how queer history and life differs from country to country, city to city. Seeing as how he’s never been overseas, this will be a new experience on multiple levels. Some other things Avery is excited to experience are the sights, the food, the art, the food, any and everything queer, and of course, THE FOOD.

Daisy Schopmeyer

Daisy Schopmeyer will be a senior this fall at Purdue University. She studies English, Creative Writing, and Anthropology. She is thrilled to be traveling to New York City, Berlin, and Paris. This will be her first study abroad program and first ime ever traveling outside of the Midwest! Daisy’s best friends went on this trip last year and she decided to go because both of them had such an amazing time. Daisy is most excited to see New York City because of Broadway. She is also excited and nervous to be traveling to Europe for the first time. But she is thrilled to finally cross some things off her bucket list: go to a Broadway show and go to Paris. Daisy has always been an ally in the LGBTQ+ community and finds their history and activism an important part of society. She is ready to be a part of ACT UP and learn more about the LGBTQ community. She is ready to be so overstimulated she won’t remember how to function!

Nathanieal Albrecht

Hello, I’m Nathanieal…I also go by Nate…some people also call me grandpa. I’m 22 going on 23 and am secretly 5 and 95 all at the same time. I am a history major and no I do not want to teach. I get asked that a lot but I am currently working on going into law enforcement. I have a real passion for helping people through police work. I currently work for a student led program with the police department to ensure campus safety and I love when people call our program for a walk home and tell us (the other people I work with and me) how safe we make them feel and how they appreciate us being there for them. I have had the amazing opportunity to learn about activism at Camp Pride (where I earned the nickname grandpa) an LGBTQ leadership camp held by Campus Pride every year and I hope to take that experience and combine it with this one to make the world a better and safer place. I am super excited to go on this trip and learn more about queer history and space in these major cities. I am most excited for Berlin because my grandad was a WW2 veteran and I never got to talk to him about it before he died and I really just look forward to seeing places he saw. Him, grandmother, and my dad are the reasons I love history so much because I used to hear stories all the time about grandad from dad and grandmother and my dad would tell the coolest stores about when they were younger and I couldn’t get enough of it. And I know I’m rambling but I am very excited to get to see places and learn thing and feel things that I’ve never got to experience before and probably wouldn’t get to if this trip wasn’t made for other students like me. Thank you.

Madaline Pitcher

College of Health and Human Sciences

Major: Retail Management

Minor: Organizational Leadership and Supervision

Growing up in a predominately white, republican area of small-town Indiana, it’s fair to say that the most diversity I was exposed to before coming to college was what sort of crop would grow in the field across from my house from year to year. Would it be soybean or would it be corn, or perhaps something altogether new? It was always so exciting to find out!

I might be exaggerating a little bit (and I don’t actually think I know the difference between a soybean crop and a corn crop), but you get the point. I truly wasn’t exposed to much diversity until I moved to Purdue, and in the last four years I’ve taken to learning as much as I can about cultures outside of my own, and today diversity is one of my top values in my life. Through my experiences as the 2015 Director of Cultural Events with the Purdue Student Union Board, I was given the opportunity to work with cultural centrs across campus, including the LGBTQ Center for our annual collaborative event, the HIV/AIDS Awareness Week in November. We began working on the week of events in February of 2015, and over the course of ten months, I learned more than I ever could have imagined about the LGBTQ Community and specificall about the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP.

After the conclusion of the 2015 HIV/AIDS Awareness Week, I found myself wanting to l
earn more about the community and about activism, and how to change the world. Working with the center and ACT UP, getting to talk with Peter Staley, Annette Gaudino, Terri Wilder, and Olivia Ford about their work in activism, made me realize that I want to make an impact on the world, and led me to pursuing this study abroad experience.
Aside from that, I’m just your friendly, next door Starbucks barista, full-time student, learner and lover of ASL and Deaf Culture, and expert on all things Harry Potter! I cannot wait to share my experiences on this once-in-a-lifetime experience with you, and I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Emily Tiede

Hi! I’m Emily Tiede! That’s pronounced teedee, like the letters; T. D. Just in case you were wondering! I am a 21 year old Purdue Senior who is majoring in Women’s Studies and minoring in LGBT Studies, Sociology, and Organizational Leadership Supervision. I am a cisgender female but do identify with the LGBTQ community. I am a hardcore feminist and my future holds something with working for women’s rights and women’s health. In my lifetime, I want to do a great amount of activism, which is one of the reasons I wanted to be a part of this trip. A couple of my hobbies are running, cooking, eating the food I cook (and then some), watching YouTube for hours, and going on feminist rants/debates. I am hoping for this trip to help guide me to where I really want to be later in life. I am so excited and still cannot believe how lucky I am!!!

Jasmine Johnson

Hi! My name is Jasmine. Most people that know me say that I’m quiet, a proud furbabylover with 6 dogs and a cat, obsessed with binge-watching Netflix, a Disney fanatic, extremelyexcited to enter the world of aunthood (my sister is due June 20th), and particularly passionateabout education. I also have a weird fascination with stories of how people got their names. Theworld was gifted with my
wonderful presence on September 14, 1994, where I grew up in a village(Yes, you read that correctly. Village.) known as Montgomery, Michigan. Population: 338.(Surrounded by extremely conservative, don’t take my gun, ‘merica-type people.) When I was in 8th grade, my family packed up our bags and ventured our way to the “big city” of Angola, Indiana,where I call home. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, but as I got older that dream was put on the backburnerfor a “better paying” career. (My parents were concerned about my financial stability.) I started atPurdue as an Exploratory Studies major, where I learned that (surprise, surprise) teaching was theperfect match for me. So, I bravely sat down with my parents and explained why teaching was mydream. And here I am, four years later, a super senior (let’s just call me the Batman of seniors)studying Elementary Education. After graduation, I would like to have a classroom full of 2nd to(maybe) 5th graders that I can inspire and shape into passionate individuals. Once I’ve stuck myfoot in the world of education, I would like to go back to school to obtain my Masters and,eventually, a PhD in Literacy and Language Education.This trip will be my first time exploring the world. I’m mostly excited to learn the content,which I think will be extremely valuable in the classroom. I’m looking forward to the food, the art, and the experience of immersing myself in a culture extremely different than my own.

Kelsey Chapman

I am incredibly grateful and excited to be participating in the third installment of the Sex, History & The Cities Study Abroad. As a double major in Social Studies Education and History, this opportunity cannot

be more valuable to my future as an educator. LGBT history education is unheard of in the classroom. I hope to take what I learn on this trip and apply it to my curricula as a teacher. This course has also inspired self-discovery. Learning about the rich and hidden history of a community that I belong to is humbling and moving- and we haven’t even left yet!

Leigha Hathaway

Hello world! My name is Leigha and I am a junior in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and a minor in LGBT Studies and Human Development. Currently, I am looking to go to graduate school to pursue a career in Student Affairs. I am extremely passionate about human rights and activism, which has led me on this path with some
seriously amazing people. I am from a small town in northern Indiana, but have always had big city dreams. Needless to say, I am so tremendously excited for our adventures abroad together! My personal strengths are as follows: crying at Disney movies, being afraid of heigh
ts, consuming way too much caffeine, talking to dogs like they’re people, copious use of sarcasm, puns, and telling stories way too loudly in public.    I am so excited to have the opportunity to attend this amazing program, so let’s get this show on the road!

Michele Manzo

My name is Michele and I have just finished my first year at Purdue University. My main involvement on campus would be through my work in the theater department. I was fortunate enough to be cast as Gertrude in Mystery Dinner Theater this year as well as in the short film Grey. My proudest accomplishment, besides actually getting in to Purdue, would be being selected as a Residence Assistant for Harrison Hall. I’m a Leo and true to my horoscope sign, I love attention and have a flair for the dramatic. My favorite class that I’ve taken at Purdue would have to be Survey of Acting with Sylvester Little.

Randy Baran

I just finished my third year at Purdue University. I am a Retail Management major and am also pursuing minors in Spanish, LGBT Studies, and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. I am taking this course to broaden my perspective of the world, and to learn more about the history and culture of the LGBT community throughout the world. As an LGBT member myself, I consider this an opportunity to learn more about the roots of my community and what events and attitudes over time have shaped our present day reality. I have never left the country before, so I am thrilled for the chance to travel abroad and fully immerse myself in cultures other than my own, and of course for Parisian coffee!

Miranda Campbell

Salut! My name is Miranda and I’m entering my senior year as a student of Theatre Design & Production at Purdue. I’ve been interested in attending this study abroad trip since I heard of its inception during my freshman year. I’ve been involved with the LGBTQ Center on campus from when I first arrived on campus and have greatly enjoyed collaborating with them and attending events that they have hosted. I will be pursuing a career in Stage Management after graduating and will be using this trip as a networking opportunity. While in New York City I hope to see five Broadway shows, job shadow a professional stage manager and MFA advisor at Columbia, and chat with a production manager while receiving a backstage tour. While in Berlin I will be conducting dramaturgical research for Purdue’s upcoming production of Cabaret on which I will also be assistant stage managing. I’m excited to see my level of (in)efficiency in the French language which I studied for five years while in Paris. This trip is a dream come true and will be a phenomenal experience both personally and professionally combining my  love of art and performance as well as my passion for social action.

 

 

 

INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Yvonne Pitts and Lowell Kane in Berlin (2015)

Dr. Yvonne Pitts, Associate Professor – Department of History

Professor Pitts received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2006. Her book titled Family, Law, and Inheritance in America: A Social and Legal History of Nineteenth Century Kentucky and was published Spring 2013 by Cambridge University Press. It explores the tensions and contradictions in the standard of sanity required to write a valid will. Focusing on nineteenth century Kentucky as a legal and geographical border state, it examines questions of moral obligation, free will, and how ordinary people understood their most intimate relationships. Traversing the histories of property, disability, insanity, and women, it analyzes how ordinary people and legal elites understood family and used law to make claims on each other.

Her current research interests include exploring how legal capacity was a disputed standard which was antecedent to the rights of citizenship, including suffrage. She is in the early stages of a project on how understandings of property evolved before and after the Civil War, focusing on nuisance law, vagrancy, and land. Professor Pitts teaches courses in U.S. constitutional history, the history of sexual regulation, race and the law, and American legal culture.

Lowell Kane, Director – LGBTQ Center – Office of the Provost, Diversity and Inclusion

Lowell is ecstatic to co-lead the 3rd cohort of this amazing Study Abroad opportunity with so many wonderful students, and an amazing colleague and friend – Dr. Yvonne Pitts. Watching this program grow from a vision shared over many cups of coffee back in 2012 into a fully developed six week, six credit, and academically rigorous experience has been quite an exciting ride…and I cannot wait to see what this year holds for our group! This year’s students have already proven to be highly motivated, smart, deeply passionate about what we are studying, and lots of fun. I am certain that as we move from the classroom to our travels, our group will only become stronger and more engaged.

I wholeheartedly believe that studying abroad is a life changing experience for all involved. It has been such a privilege linking classroom learning with service work and organizations, museum collections, public health, archives, activists, and community spaces. I most look forward to connecting students with the amazing groups and activists that have inspired me personally for more than 15 years as a part of this movement as well as in academia.

Follow our travels, read our blogs, ask questions, challenge us, encourage us, and be prepared for great things!!!

Lowell’s professional bio and LGBTQ Center information available at: http://www.purdue.edu/lgbtq/about/staff.html