2009 - 2010 Staff

Bob Schoenberg

Bob Schoenberg is the Director of the LGBT Center and a highly respected University administrator. He was the Center's first employee and its only director. In September 2008, he began his 27th year in that role.

Background - Bob was hired by Penn to be a two-day a week point person for lesbian/gay students when he began work on his doctoral dissertation in Fall 1982. He was only the second person specifically hired for such responsibilities on a college or university campus. Over the years, his position increased in scope and time commitment. By 1989, he was the full-time director of a program serving University students, faculty, and staff. A few years later, the program became a center and moved from Houston Hall to 3537 Locust Walk. During 2000-02, Bob helped raise funds to provide a new home for the LGBT Center and oversaw the renovation of the Carriage House, its location since June 2002.

Teaching and Scholarship - Bob has taught courses at Penn, as well as Bryn Mawr College and Rutgers University. He has consulted at several other colleges and universities and presented at many national professional conferences. He edited the collection Homosexuality and Social Work (Haworth Press) and, with his counterparts at Penn State and UCLA, authored Our Place on Campus: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Services and Programs in Higher Education, published by Greenwood Press in June 2002. He has also authored several journal articles.

Service - Bob was a member of the first Mayor's Commission on Sexual Minorities. He was the founder and first President of ActionAIDS, now Pennsylvania's largest HIV/AIDS service organization. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Council for Relationships, the Advisory Board of the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, and the Community Advisory Board of the Penn Center for AIDS Research. At Penn, Bob serves on the University Council Diversity and Equity Committee.

Honors - Bob has received numerous honors from being named Social Worker of the Year by the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in 1988 to, most recently, receiving the Community Service Award from Dignity Philadelphia.

 

Chris McAdams

Chris is a graduate student, pursuing his masters of architecture at the School of Design. Born and raised in the sweltering heat of Phoenix, he escaped for a brief stint in Seattle before making his way to Penn. Most of his interests revolve around technology, cycling, and food. A self-proclaimed nerd, Chris is also a huge fan of tea.

Curtis Rogers

Curtis is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in English with a minor in consumer psychology. He comes from sunny south Florida, and loves all things involved with poetry, fiction, computers and small dogs. He works as the Carriage House's design-centered work study student and can always be found at the Center working away at the computers, playing with Vic and designing the latest and hottest fliers.

Erin Cross

Erin, the Center's Associate Director, is a Cleveland, Ohio native who now calls Philadelphia home. Before coming to Penn she held various jobs after earning her B.A. in History and Political Science from The College of Wooster and her M.A. in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University. Her latest educational adventure is as a doctoral candidate at Penn's Graduate School of Education (GSE). In addition to her duties at the Center, Erin teaches in GSE’s Teacher Education Program, sits on the Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force, and serves on the Advisory Boards of Makuu: Black Cultural Center and the Division of Public Safety. Erin's favorite activities, however, are parenting Vic and doting on her adopted niece, Coltrane, and godson, Moses.

Josh Herren

Josh H. is a first year undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences. He hails from the sun-drenched hills of San Diego, California. In high school he was president of the GSA for three years and interned at Gay Pride San Diego and the Diversionary Theatre, the nation’s third oldest continuing LGBT theatre company. Josh is loving his time at Penn and plans to study Gender, Culture, and Society Studies as well as some combination of History, Art History, and Cinema Studies. When not at the Center, he probably can be found rehearsing in Platt or being generally ridiculous along Locust Walk.

Josh Tweedy

Josh is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Gender, Society and Culture.  He is a non-traditional student in the Liberal and Professional Studies program at Penn.  Before returning to school to finish his degree, he worked for several years in the service industry.  Born and raised in Philadelphia, he enjoys spending time with his family who have remained in the area, as well as with his partner.  Josh wants to attend grad school and eventually work toward an academic career in Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Laura Wesolowski

Laura is a first year graduate student at the Fels Institute of Government. Hailing from beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, she moved to Philadelphia to learn how the rule the world. She is proud of being a returned Peace Corps volunteer, a decent pool player, and shorter than Lauren. Laura’s goals for this year are strengthening the connection between the LGBT Center and graduate/professional students, passing her classes, and learning to live with three cats.

Lauren Yarger

Lauren, work-study student extraordinaire, is a sophomore in the College who hails from Bucks Country, PA. She is an International Relations major with minors in Spanish and Political Science, and her long term goal is to work for the State Department. In her spare time, she enjoys going to concerts, writing, drawing, making too many television references, pursuing her dream of domesticating a gray squirrel, and trying to find people shorter than her.

Maggie Lilavois

Maggie is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, hoping to transfer into the School of Engineering. She was born and raised in Queens, New York and attended Townsend Harris High School. She has been swimming since she was five years old, and sometimes is referred to as "The Fish" by her friends. She loves taking science and language courses, going to the movies, and eating!

Marcel Salas

Marcel hails from Brooklyn, NY and is a first year in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a proud alumna of Prep for Prep and the Packer Collegiate Institute. As program assistant with special media responsibilities, Marcel will assist the Center in an variety of tasks. You usually can find Marcel reading, scribbling frantically on post-it notes, and drinking coffee. At Penn, she hopes to study Sociology and Africana Studies and eventually have a career in civil rights law. Although her future aspirations include working for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, US Civil Rights Commission, and having her own show on CNN, Marcel’s greatest dream is to sing with her favorite gospel group of all time, The Clark Sisters.

Marianne Mondt

Marianne is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Political Science (her umpteenth major; hopefully this one will stick). Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Marianne has lived all over the world and is not a spy. I repeat: She is not a spy. She can, however, speak six languages and kick butt in Tae Kwon Do. She also loves long walks on the beach at midnight. As a Capricorn, being stubborn comes along with the whole package, so deal with it.

Nathan Watkins

Nathan is a sophomore studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  Originally from Texas, he severed his Southern roots in pursuit of a Yankee education.  When not trapped within Van Pelt student carrels, Nathan spends most of his time swing dancing.  His other interests include reality television, the U.S. Constitution, and foreign languages. 

Paul Richards

Paul is a senior International Relations major who has worked at the Center since the summer before his junior year. Instead of scaling back in his last year at Penn like he told himself he would, he is an editor at 34th Street, one of the QPenn co-chairs and several other things he doesn't feel like listing. When not at the Center, you can probably find him deep in the depths of Van Pelt reading, reading, reading for his senior thesis.

Quintin Marcus

Quintin is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He has yet to declare a major and thinks people should stop asking. Although he is a native of Philadelphia, he may not be living here for long as his parents have decided to pack up and move to Hawaii to be hippies. He loves animals, photography, walking all over creation, laying in the grass, and watching trashy reality television in between cramming for classes.

Sayra Lopez