Joelle Ruby Ryan, '96, G '02 Senior Lecturer, Women's Studies Pronons: They, Them, Their
Dr. Joëlle Ruby Ryan is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New Hampshire who works for the Women’s Studies Program. They identify as an asexual, genderqueer, non-binary transgender woman. Joëlle has been committed to social justice their entire life. They came to UNH in 1992 as a French and English major. They switched their major during their sophomore year and became a Women’s Studies major. During this time, they read the novel Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. This book had a huge influence on Joelle, and they even organized an event to bring Leslie Feinberg to UNH.
Joëlle graduated from UNH in 1996. Over the years, Joëlle has dedicated their life to fighting for social and economic justice, and being a voice for fairness and equality. Joëlle says that although there has been progress on equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, there are still many parts of our society where discrimination is prevalent. “There are still many hate crimes, murders, and suicides, as well as health care that is inadequate and doesn’t serve trans* people." Additionally, there are no federal protections for LGBTQ+ people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. These are just some of the many instances on inequality present today.
In 2009, Joëlle returned to UNH as a Lecturer. In addition to being a Lecturer in the Women’s Studies Program, they have continued their work supporting equal rights and justice. There are many things that need to be done here at UNH to foster a community of greater acceptance. They have many priorities that they would like to see the school adopt. These include insurance coverage that covers transition-related health care, more classes exploring topics of gender identity and expression, and more acceptance for non-binary identities. Additionally, they believe we need inclusive policies in residential life and dormitories, as well as a diversity discovery course requirement. Joëlle explains, “Learning how to be a better human being is an important part of everyday life for people who enter any number of professions.”
There are many historical figures who inspire Joëlle, such as Harvey Milk, Audre Lorde, Leslie Feinberg, Kate Bornstein, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, CeCe McDonald, Janet Mock, Matthew Shepard, Cesar Chavez, Marlon Riggs, Martin Luther King, Shirley Chisholm, Anita Hill, and others. They are also inspired by people in the community who are also doing work to advance social justice, particularly trans* students at UNH.
In their spare time, Joëlle enjoys watching movies, reading and writing about topics such as social justice, spirituality, politics, history, and culture. They enjoy meditation, acupuncture, Reiki, traveling, going to conferences, and teaching others.
To this day, Joëlle continues to teach here at UNH and work towards creating a more inclusive community for everybody. They continue to passionately fight for the rights of every single person, and for greater awareness of social justice. Through their work, they have inspired many others and helped create many positive policy changes on campus such as our new preferred name policy. They won a Pink Triangle Award for this initiative along with their fellow committee members in April 2016.