Shantala Thompson, MA

Shantala Thompson (They/She) serves as the associate director for the LGBTQ+ Equity Center. In this role, she provides strategic campus-wide leadership, supervises community-building programs, and directs the center's educational and leadership initiatives for students, faculty, and staff.

Shantala is a social justice educator, curricula writer, and leader with over 20 years of experience in higher education and nonprofit sectors. Her professional experience includes writing and facilitating social justice curricula nationally for children, youth, university students, and community members; advising and mentoring university students; and programming and education in higher education. Her research interests and expertise include student development in higher education, positive youth development, LGBTQ+ History, and Black Feminism.

In addition to her professional experience, Shantala has over two decades of experience volunteering with social justice organizations centered on positive youth development and increasing literacy rates for school-aged children by introducing them to culturally relevant literature. She strives to use a universal approach to ensure that her work is accessible across gender, sexuality, race, ability, socioeconomic status, and various identities.

She proudly earned her B.A. in Africana Studies from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and two master's degrees in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies and Africana Studies from SUNY University at Albany.