[Currents headergraphic]

January 12, 1998

Appointments

Deborah Abbott has been named director of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered (GLBT) Resource Center. This new position was created to provide services and programming to support the GLBT campus community.

Abbott, a UCSC Porter (College Five) alumna, is a longtime activist on GLBT issues. She coedited the book, From Wedded Wife to Lesbian Life, has moderated a forum on lesbian issues on America Online, served as a consultant to ABC's 20/20 television show, and has made numerous presentations and speeches on GLBT issues.

Abbott holds a master's degree in psychology and has had a psychotherapy practice in Santa Cruz for over a decade. In addition, she has taught psychology at the graduate and undergraduate levels (most recently at John F. Kennedy University's Graduate School of Professional Psychology in Campbell). The United States Congress awarded her the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 1995.

For many years, she has been an advocate around disability and health issues. She was cofounder and first executive director of the Santa Cruz women's cancer organization, WomenCARE, and she was an early member of the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective. She has served on the boards of several local nonprofit organizations, and she is an expert kayak and whitewater-raft guide who volunteers with groups offering wilderness outings to people with disabilities. She is conversant in American Sign Language.

The GLBT Resource Center will hold a reception to welcome Deborah Abbott to campus on Tuesday, January 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. (The center is located next to KZSC, behind Merrill College.) During winter quarter there will also be a series of get-acquainted drop-in coffee hours at the GLBT Resource Center every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.


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