Lisa Currie, the new interim associate director for the Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, says between adjusting to life in a new city and planning forward-thinking initiatives for OGSD, she’s been kept on her toes.

In spite of that, she’s already begun decorating her new office.

She points to the one decoration she has had time to put up in her office: a miniature Tardis that sits on her desk.

“That’s random, but I’m a nerd,” Currie said with a laugh. “I am happy to fly my geek flag with all my other LGBTQ flags.”

Currie began working at Tulane on Oct. 19, but she’s spent a long time in the field of student wellness and health education.

She has previously worked for Northwestern University, The University of Scranton and Wesleyan University. Additionally, Currie earned her master’s degrees in both College Student Development and Human Sexuality Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Widener University, respectively. Currently she is pursuing a Ph.D in Human Sexuality Studies from Widener, located just outside of Philadelphia.

“I should say my favorite hobby is grad school,” Currie said.

Though much of her career has taken the direction of health promotion and wellness, Currie always involved herself in both student well-being and LGBTQ+ related concerns. For Currie, ever since beginning as a student orientation leader at her own campus and through her career, it is all about the students.

“It all started with working with students — just seeing that joy of connecting to the campus community,” Currie said. “I want to see students be able to enjoy their entire time from the minute they set foot on campus.”

As the new interim director, Currie said her goal is twofold. The first is to maintain the programs and services that have been established around Tulane for continuity in the work being done. Her second goal is to tackle sexual violence in Tulane’s community, especially after the release of the climate survey results last January.

“One of the reasons I was hired is because of my past experience working with sexual violence prevention,” Currie said.

The hardest problem in addressing the problem of sexual violence, she said, is that it’s a global one, and not something that just one university can solve.

“We are a microcosm of that, and so at times it can feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall because of the scope of the issue,” Currie said.

Currie insists that there is always more that can be done with regards to problems like sexual violence, and that new work within that area will take shape in the spring.

Currie said she feels good about the progress being made.

“It feels like the right direction,” Currie said. “I’m hearing a lot of positivity around where people are going with it.”

Outside of the progress she hopes to make in the department, Currie said she is most looking forward to the Doctor-Who-themed Krewe du Who, an offshoot of Chewbacchus.

“Chewbacchus is the Syfy crew but it has like a Chutes and I saw it on Facebook and I was like oh my God this is amazing,” Currie said.