The CFAES Office of Equity and Inclusion is pleased to announce that Dr. Leo Taylor is working with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in CFAES. Dr. Taylor has a 50 percent appointment in the office and a 50 percent appointment as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Entomology.
Leo will be spear heading getting a Cultivating Change chapter started on our campus and providing professional development to faculty, staff, and students on the Columbus and Wooster Campuses. He started mid-September and has already connected to graduate students. He is collaborating with two OSU graduate students to form a peer-led support group for CFAES graduate students struggling with mental health issues. This group will begin meeting in October 2018. Stay tuned for more on events and activities led by Dr. Taylor.
Dr. Leo Taylor is an entomologist whose research interest is the behavioral ecology of insects and spiders. He was born and raised in Muncie, IN and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology (’98) and master’s degree in biology (‘05) from Ball State University. In 2015, he received his PhD in entomology from Cornell University where he researched native lady beetle decline. After graduating from Cornell Leo taught biology courses at Ithaca College and held the position of Program Coordinator in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Leo is passionate about equity and inclusion in academia, particularly issues facing women and LGBTQ individuals, people living with HIV and those struggling with the stigma associated with mental illness. His work with the transgender community includes founding and facilitating several peer-led support groups, serving as an advisor to the Cornell administration in their efforts to improve the experience of transgender students, and contributing to the development of the transgender health care program at the Cornell Health Center.