UM News

Ronni Sanlo

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (February 3, 2016)—The University of Miami has announced that it will increase the resources available to support students of all gender identities and sexual orientations by establishing a dedicated center on campus. To plan the scope of what the center should offer, the University has engaged Ronni Sanlo, a foremost expert on LGBTQ issues in the realm of higher education, to conduct a series of meetings to create strategic plans for the UM center.

A forum for UM students will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 16. The next day, Wednesday, February 17, Sanlo will lead a daylong strategic-planning session with the UM community, including faculty, staff, and alumni. To participate, register by Friday, February 12. The planning session will be followed on Wednesday, February 17 by Letters to Anita, the award-winning documentary about Sanlo, who lost custody of her children after she came out as a lesbian. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. screening, which takes place at UM’s Cosford Cinema.

“Dr. Sanlo is one of higher education’s most sough-after experts on LGBTQ issues,” said Pat Whitely, vice president for student affairs. “I am delighted she has accepted our invitation to join us at UM as we seek to create a truly first-rate and inclusive LGBTQ Center.”

A Miami Beach native who formerly served as an HIV/AIDS epidemiologist for the Florida Health Department, Sanlo is the director emeritus of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at UCLA, where she served as the senior associate dean of students and professor/director of the UCLA Masters of Education in Student Affairs.

She previously served on the higher education faculty at California State University Fullerton, and as director of the University of Michigan LGBT Center.

Sanlo is the founding chair of the Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Professionals, and is the originator of the award-winning Lavender Graduation commencement event, which the University of Miami first held in 2015.

The screening of Letters to Anita at the Cosford Cinema is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required by February 12. Sanlo will be on hand to answer questions following the film.

For more information, email [email protected].