LGBTQIA+ Employee Network | Inclusive Excellence

Community | Resources | Advocacy

The CSU LGBTQIA Employee Network is a networking and affinity space for Colorado State University employees that identify with the LGBTQIA+ community. This group is hosted through the Office of Inclusive Excellence.

Our goal is to create a proud, diverse community that offers networking opportunities, shared resources, social inclusion, advocacy, and support so that employees feel they have a community within CSU and in Northern Colorado. This group is open to CSU Faculty and Staff, with a specific sub-network for Graduate Students.

What does the Employee Network do?

We host 2-4 social opportunities each month, such as Queer Coffee on the final Friday of every month, Happy Hours, and more.
Share updates in a monthly newsletter, including local ways to get involved in the Northern Colorado LGBTQ+ community.
Provide a connection to the Pride Resource Center and opportunities to mentor, volunteer, or connect with CSU LGBTQ+ students.
Provide space on our Teams channel for community members to connect, ask questions, share resources, and create meet-up events of their own! We’ve had folx organize bowling, golfing, game nights, axe throwing, and more.
Provide support to new employees or prospective employees about navigating CSU and Northern Colorado as an LGBTQ+ person.
Advocate on behalf of CSU LGBTQ+ employees’ needs.
Crowdsource resources such as LGBTQ+ friendly doctors, therapists, barbers, and more.

Get Connected

Email CSULGBTQIA@gmail.com

Interested in joining? Fill out the form on this page (below “Meet Your Network Leaders”).

Network Leadership

Maggie Hendrickson
Soleil Gonzalez
Sarah Rodriquez
Torin Kaletsky

Network Support

Chloe Wright, Counseling Services
Maggie Hendrickson, Director for Pride Resource Center

Want to help lead the LGBTQ+ Employee Network?

Email us at CSULGBTQIA@gmail.com to let us know you’re interested in organizing with us!

Meet Your Network Leaders

Maggie Hendrickson (they/them)

Maggie is the Assistant Director for the Pride Resource Center and has been at CSU for two years. In Pride, Maggie supports queer and trans students through community building and mentoring, and oversees the center’s education, resource, and advocacy initiatives. Maggie is originally from New England and most recently moved to Fort Collins from Seattle. They enjoy baking, being outside, and playing with their cat, and seriously misses the casual drink and round of trivia after work with friends/colleagues. They’re excited to find new ways to share local resources, services, and events across our community through a community care lens.

Email Maggie

Sarah Rodriquez (she/her)

Sarah serves as the Assistant Director for the Academic Advancement Center at CSU. Prior to this role, Sarah served as the Associate Director at the Stryker Institute for Leadership Development at UNC. Her passion for access, inclusivity, and equity is echoed throughout her various roles, including that as a momma. Sarah loves to engage in advocacy for and with those who have been historically marginalized. As a non-traditional, underrepresented, first-gen student herself, she knows the importance of this work. When she’s not smashing the patriarchy, she can be found loving on her pets, reading picture books, or simply daydreaming. Sarah is super excited to get to meet new folks, embrace community, and confront barriers as part of the LGBTQIA+ Employee Network.

Torin Kaletsky (he/him)

Torin has been at C.S.U. since 2018 and is currently the Curriculum, Catalog, and Academic Planning Specialist with the Office of the Registrar. He’s involved in DEIJ efforts on campus and with the City of Fort Collins and is especially passionate about voting rights and racial justice. He loves hiking, paddle boarding, and playing with his two corgis, Wesley and Sullivan. He loves listening to podcasts—to learn something new or just for fun—and he’s especially fond of tabletop games.

Join the LGBTQIA+ Employee Network

Name(Required)

First Last

Email Address(Required)

CSU eID(Required)

Role at the University(Required)

Please add me to (check all that apply):(Required)

LGBTQIA+ Employee Network Teams Channel

LGBTQIA+ Faculty/Staff Email Listserv

Community Guidelines(Required)

I agree to abide by and honor the affinity group community guidelines

Members agree to lessen potential for harm by being accountable to one another and addressing their own biases. Participation is voluntary, to whatever degree is desirable
Affinity groups are a place to offer support, resources, and communication in the service of greater equity.

* * *

Everyone, regardless of social identity or status has equal opportunity for participation, and all members of CSU affinity groups have a role in ensuring that, in all processes of working together, equal opportunity happens.

Inequity, bias, and microaggressions can show up everywhere, even in spaces committed to community building and social justice. Gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, different abilities, ethnicity/ethnic heritage, race, age, size, class, and citizenship status are some of the more obvious examples of how people can be marginalized.

Members agree to lessen the negative effects of oppressive ideologies within the operation of affinity groups, and our University overall, because they are all interconnected and relevant to our experiences as employees. This is done through commitment to learning and unlearning oppressive values, assumptions, beliefs, and habits that manifest on individual, group, and structural levels. This commitment is demonstrated through building community, sharing resources, advocating for policy change, offering and attending workshops, fostering collaborations, supporting each other personally and professionally, etc., all of which
can be done collectively.

Affinity groups are intended to be a space where members can feel comfortable sharing their needs, supporting one another, practicing healthy boundaries, and developing their agency.

Participation is completely voluntary. Members are encouraged to engage to whatever degree feels appropriate for them, and to do so because they want to, not because they feel pressured to. Members are accountable to each other and the CSU community at large, and are responsible for direct and open communication, transparency, and equitably sharing and distributing power within affinity groups.