Caitlin O’Neill (she/they) is the Director of the LGBTQ Center with an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of American Studies at Brown University. Caitlin joined Brown in 2019 as the Assistant Director of the LGBTQ Center and was named director in 2022. In November 2022, Caitlin oversaw the Center’s move to a new, more inclusive and accessible location, dedicated as the Stonewall House. As director, Caitlin will lead the center through a period of growth – expanding space, programming, and resources for Brown’s queer and trans community. 

Caitlin’s professional interests are centered around cultivating a supportive environment for historically marginalized students at all levels (undergraduate, graduate, and medical) that allows them to thrive academically, professionally, and personally. At Brown, Caitlin has worked to support graduate student development through the creation of a coordinated hiring and onboarding process, with additional programmatic and supervisory support for all graduate student staff in the area of Campus Life engagement. They also co-facilitate a weekly support group with CAPS for trans, gender-diverse, and questioning graduate, medical, and undergraduate students on campus. 

A former Yale University Sarah Pettit Dissertation Fellow in Lesbian Studies, Caitlin holds a PhD in African and African Diaspora Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Caitlin’s current research interests trace alternative genealogies of black radical and visionary traditions that center the creative and Afro-Atlantic religious contributions of black women’s literature and cultural production. Caitlin’s work appears in the Journal of American Culture and in the collection Critical Black Futures: Speculative Theories and Explorations, edited by Philip Butler.

Keri McDonough (Pronouns are They/Them) received their BA in Outdoor Education from Johnson State College and M.Ed. in Higher Education from Salem State University. Throughout their professional career, they have kept a focus on advocating for the LGBTQ+ community. They are coming from UNH Manchester where they worked in Student Engagement overseeing Campus Activities, Student Clubs, Student Events, New Student Orientations, Housing, and co-advising the LGBTQ group, True Colors. Prior to that, they worked at Bentley University in residence life and advising multiple student groups. While at Bentley, they were awarded Advisor of the year and the Staff Rainbow Award.

Outside of work, they can be found skiing/camping in the mountains, paddleboarding on the water with their wife, Brianne, and dog, Roxy, or watching The Office with their cat, Jack.