29 Sep 2025
This fall I taught Queer American History. Every student in the class wanted to be there, wanted to do the readings, wanted to talk about what they were learning – it created a pretty magical learning environment!
One of the high points was a guest lecture by Dr. Samantha Rosenthal. With the help of the History Department and the Intercultural Center, I invited Dr. Samantha Rosenthal to join us on campus to talk about her book, Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City, published by UNC Press in 2021. The talk was wonderful – several students wrote in their senior capstones that they found it inspirational. Follow her substack if you’re not already!
One of the greatest treats as a teacher is when students decide they want to do their senior capstone on something pertaining to what they learned in your class. This year, two of the seniors in my class told me they’re now planning to write on queer history! One is even using the oral histories and digitized archive created by the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project that Dr. Rosenthal helped lead.
Huge thanks to Dr. Rosenthal and to Kathleen, David, and Gail who helped make this course so special!
24 Apr 2025
Who gets to play—and who decides?
These two questions are at the heart of ongoing debates about women’s athletics, from the Olympics all the way to college campuses like Randolph.
Fortunately, for those who want to think critically about these questions, we have one of the foremost scholarly authorities right here in Lynchburg.
I was reminded of this last summer while listening to the podcast Tested, produced by the CBC and NPR, in the lead up to the Summer Olympics in Paris. While listening, I heard a familiar voice – that of Dr. Lindsay Parks Pieper.
I found this very exciting because I knew Dr. Pieper personally – we’d met playing pickleball. She’s tall and a former college athlete… so I’ll casually avoid telling you who usually won.
As I listened, I became increasingly convinced that we needed to invite Dr. Pieper to campus. I initially invited her to speak with my American Women’s History class, but word spread—and her visit turned into a campus-wide event. In the end, about 75 Wildcats showed up for her talk.
Lindsay Pieper is the Associate Professor of Health Sciences & Human Performance and the Chair of the Sport Management Department at the University of Lynchburg. She graduated with her BA from Virginia Tech and later received her Masters and Doctorate from The Ohio State University.
Her book, Sex Testing: Gender Policing in Women’s Sport, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2016. It won several awards including the North American Society for Sport Sociology’s Outstanding Book of the Year, the North American Society for Sport History’s Distinguished Title award, and it was listed as an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association.
Her talk, “Sport, Sex, and Surveillance: Gender Policing in Women’s Sports,” was timely, thought-provoking, and a resounding success.
08 Aug 2024
This fall I spearheaded and served as the de facto chair of the nonpartisan #RandolphVotes initiative. Our aim was to boost voter participation and foster civil discourse on campus during the 2024 Presidential election. #RandolphVotes ensured Randolph College fulfilled its obligation under section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act to make a “good faith effort” to distribute voter registration forms to their students.
As part of our initiative, promoted voter registration, organized transportation ot the polls, hosting voter education events, and promoted voter information on our Instagram and TikTok.
In a democracy, civic engagement is essential. Electoral politics shape the well-being of our communities. As I said in this interview, “participating in the democratic process is a vital way to maintain Randolph’s mission to engage the world, live honorably, and experience life abundantly.”
Feel free to check out our step-by-step voter registration guide.
25 Jan 2024
This week, I had the pleasure of hosting my dear friend, Eric Martin, as he talked about some of the ideas in his new book about religious responses the Unite the Right Rally in Charllotesville in 2017. The event went exceedingly well, and I encourage all of you to buy The Writing on the Wall, published by Wipf and Stock publishers.
