Dr. Carla Stephens, Faculty in Social Studies, joins John Hopkins AGI 2024 cohort
Faculty in Social Studies and Director of the Bard Queer Leadership Program Dr. Carla
Stephens was recently accepted as one of seven American participants in the second
Johns Hopkins American-German Institute’s 2024 cohort which took place in September.
The American-German Institute’s — or AGI’s — project, Building LGBTQ+ Communities in Germany and the United States: Past, Present, and Future, visited New York City to meet with LGBTQ+ elected officials, archivists, artists, and support organizations. The cohort visited monuments around New York City such as the Stonewall National Monument and NYC AIDS Memorial, and discussed LGBTQ+ history and issues present both in the U.S. and in Germany.
Dr. Stephens was crucial in creating a StoryMap of the cohort’s experience, which documented their impressions of and the brief histories of many of the meetings and memorial sites. Her addition of the Hetrick-Martin Institute — the first LGBTQ+ youth services organization, established in 1979 by psychiatrist, Dr. Emery Hetrick, and his life partner, New York University professor Dr. Damien Martin — also traced back to partnerships with the Bard network, specifically in the Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Newark magnet program, where it supported students for five years.
Of the officials and speakers that Dr. Stephens met during her travels, she spoke highly of Chi Ossé, a member of the New York City Council for the 36th district, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford–Stuyvesant, and some of northern Crown Heights.
“I am planning to invite Chi Osse to be a guest on "Leading Queer" at some point--possibly next semester. It will be interesting to hear if or how the political landscape in NYC is impacted by the new presidential administration,” said Dr. Stephens.
Ossé entered politics as an organizer and prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2021, Ossé was elected as the youngest member of this Council and its only member hailing from Gen-Z at 23 years old.
Dr. Stephens also mentioned that the Hetrick-Martin Institute was one of her favorite locations on the cohort’s itinerary.
"As the former principal of a high school in Newark, NJ, for five years I received counseling services for students and training for staff from a now defunct branch of HMI, HMI-New Jersey. It was a great loss when the New Jersey branch had to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, so I was extremely happy to see HMI thriving and doing great work in New York City and beyond.”