Chair in Transgender Studies at UVic announcement

The University of Victoria announced the establishment of the Chair in Transgender Studies, the first of its kind, to tackle essential issues that matter and to inspire research and discussion to help make a difference in the lives of some of our most vulnerable people in society. A donation of $1 million USD by the Tawani Foundation, founded and led by Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer N. Pritzker, US Army (Retired), will install the inaugural chair in UVic’s Faculty of Social Sciences for five years.

As the inaugural Chair in Transgender Studies, Dr. Aaron Devor will work with some of the world’s top researchers and scholars, thought leaders, transgender community activists and students to further research into a broad range of topics concerned with the lives of trans and gender nonconforming people and to explore crucial issues such as healthcare, poverty, discrimination and suicide.

The Tawani Foundation has committed a generous donation of $1 million USD to UVic for the purpose of supporting the world’s first Chair in Transgender Studies. In addition, the foundation has also pledged up to another $1 million USD to match contributions from other donors toward the Chair in Transgender Studies at UVic.

The Transgender Archives at UVic represents 17 countries on five continents, more than a century of research and over 50 years of activism. If the materials were lined up along one long shelf, the collection would stretch the length of a football field.

Devor is an elected member of the elite International Academy of Sex Research, an elected Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and a national award-winning teacher. He is a professor in UVic’s Department of Sociology and a former dean of UVic’s Faculty of Graduate Studies.