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Luis H. Garay joined ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ in September 2019. Garay has spent their professional career working in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) roles within higher education as an identity-center practitioner across Missouri, Virginia, and North Carolina. Their roles have included coordinating mentorship programs, serving as cultural organization student advisor, managing a 4-year social justice scholarship program, serving as a founding staff for a LGBTQ Resource Center, facilitating 100s of trainings, fundraising for endowments, fostering relationships with donors and alumni, leading departmental strategic planning, and working with LGBTQ employee resource groups.

Garay's role at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ includes overseeing the Gender and LGBTQIA Center which encompasses working with three units including LGBTQ services and programs, gender equity programming, and sexual violence prevention overseeing a team of fifteen full-time and part-time people. Their role specifically includes serving on the Division of Student Life's Leadership Team, supporting the LGBTQIA Employee Resource Group, co-advising the Gender and Sexuality Living Learning Community, overseeing departmental communications, coordinating QTPOC programming and services, managing stewardship from donors' gifts, leading departmental philanthropy efforts, and coordinating department programming like the GLC New Student Welcome and Lavender Celebration. They also serve as the central person overseeing the GAP Fund which provides financial support for students supported by the GLC.

At ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, they are a part of Women's Gender Sexuality Studies Advisory Board, Employee Benefits Advisory Committee, the History and Memory Committee, Division of Inclusive Excellence team meetings, and the Dialogue Strategic Team.

Outside of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, Garay is involved with the ACPA - College Student Educators as a proud member of the leadership team for the Latinx Network (LN) as their endowment chair. Through LN, they have also served as a mentor for the last 4 years. They are also a Class of 2024 LatinxEd Fellow. The fellowship program is an immersive leadership development program that equips Latine advocates across North Carolina with the tools to dismantle barriers, advance educational equity, and build a thriving future.

Garay is currently a doctoral student in the Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations department at University of North Carolina at Greensboro and possess degrees from University of Central Missouri and Dominican University (Illinois). Their scholarly interest includes the educational experience of queer and trans Latine students in the U.S. South, arts-based research methods, and the role of memory in preserving queer and trans Latine stories.

Instructor for the following courses at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ: 

• Caring for the Queer Self
• We Should Talk About Bruno: Latinx Mental Health