Who We Are & What We Do
We are a group of faculty and students who are trans and gender diverse or cis allies dedicated to doing research that matters and makes a difference in the lives of trans people.
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Our team's primary focus is on the role of communication and media in the health and wellness of transgender and gender-diverse folks. We believe it is imperative to study not only the challenges in our communities, but also center on the joy, strengths, and resistance to structural and institutional oppression transgender and gender-diverse people face. We primarily use qualitative method approaches in our work. We also conduct research with a focus on application, pairing our research with practical implications in communication and media spaces.
Our Values
Centering trans voices
Including trans people in the research process
Conducting research that solves community needs
Extending our reach beyond academia
Meet The Team
E. Ciszek, Ph.D.
They/Them
Richard Mocarski, Ph.D.
He/Him
Mansi Shah
She/Her
E.’s work and commitments are centered on power and identity, with a particular focus on the role of communication in social change. Their research engages dialogically with groups that are historically marginalized, using tools like queer theory to overcome the constraints of conventional methods of scientific inquiry that position identities as fixed demographic categories that are based on binary conceptions of identity. E.’s work explores how communities challenge power imbalances and provide practical implications for allies who want to advocate on behalf of marginalized groups.
Richard Mocarski is the Associate Vice President for Research at San Jose State University. He is a community-engaged communication researcher and one of the founding academic members of Trans Collaborations, a community-participatory-based research partnership that aims at increasing affirming healthcare access for the Great Central Plains Transgender and Gender Diverse populations. As part of these efforts, this team has created the only free summer camp for TGD youth and their families in the central part of the USA to bring safe camp experiences to TGD children.
Mansi Shah is a second-year Ph.D. student at the Stan Richard School of Advertising and Public Relations. She is a mixed-method researcher and has gained skills in conducting text analysis, social media analysis, and statistical analysis using various linguistic and statistical software and programming languages. Her research focuses on the topics of stigma, social support, media effects, and entertainment education
Gerold Dermid
He/Him
Gerold is committed to social justice, public health, and facilitating opportunities for agency and voice to diverse and vibrant communities throughout the world. He has worked for universities, health departments, and non-profit organizations for over 20 years to co-create change that will protect and promote health of populations domestically and internationally. He engages mostly in qualitative research and has routed my studies and training in the fields of sociology, business marketing, public health, public policy, and advertising. He is a proud and active member of Nevada's Gender Clinic, the Sexual and Gender Minority Ally Action Group, and the Trans Collaborations Health Communications Research Team.
Chloe Longanecker
She/Her
Chloe is a Trans-Woman and second-year Master’s student at the University of Texas. She has spent the last few months working on Transgender health communication projects. Chloe has worked in the music industry and has ties to the Austin LGBTQ music scene.