Program Recognition Awards

In April 2026, the Kevin Roe Legacy Fund proudly announced the first Program Recognition Awards. This award recognizes exemplary projects completed within the past 12 months by SJSU students, staff, and/or faculty that demonstrate courage and inclusion, advocacy for social justice, and pride in being queer.

“Visibility is about showing up in all the spaces we inhabit. Spartan excellence is bold, innovative, and community-centered.”

—Maribel Martinez, Legacy Fund Advisory Group member

You Will Not Erase Us:
Trans Day of Remembrance 2025

Oli Harter and Javier Ruiz,  Trans Talk SJSU

In honor of National (Global) Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR), November 2025, Trans Talk SJSU organized a month of remembrance, creativity, courage, and hope for the SJSU community, including:  

  • A call for student artists to contribute unique artwork on the theme “You Will Not Erase Us”

  • A Trans Day of Remembrance Art Gallery on display for several weeks in the MOSAIC Center on campus and virtually through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

  • A TDOR Art-Making Social, in which participants made and shared their original art

  • The TDOR Memorial, including the traditional reading of names of those lost to anti-trans violence

  • Over $600 raised for the Trans Youth Emergency Project through purchases of the donated art and event poster

To organize the events, Trans Talk worked closely with other campus groups,  including Queer & Asian, oSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), MeChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano del Aztlan), SAMI (Students Against Mass Incarceration), UNITE (Undocuscholar Network for Inclusive and Transformational Education), the MOSAIC Center, MaskBlocSJSU, and the Pride and Gender Equity Center.

In the words of their nominator:

"TDOR is usually a somber event in memory of transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-trans violence.  These amazing students worked to mark the gravity of these losses but also affirm and celebrate their community as well by surrounding the TDOR memorial with an art gallery, artmaking social, poster campaign, memorial ritual, and fundraiser for the Southern Equality Center’s Trans Youth Emergency Program.  As stated at the memorial, 'We mourn the dead and protect the living.’”

Making Queer and Trans Worlds: Speculative Fiction in Chaotic Times

Daniel Rivers and Maite Urcaregui, with members of the SJSU English Faculty and Library Banned Books Week 

As part of the SJSU 2025 Banned Books Week events, SJSU English professors Maite Urcaregui and Daniel Rivers organized a symposium on the importance of young adult and speculative fiction for queer and trans folks and their allies.  A panel of scholars and writers featured a discussion of the history of queer/trans YA and speculative fiction, as well as personal experiences coming into the genres, and reflections on the ways speculative genres connect to social movements, subcultural worlds, and queer and trans futures. 

The 40 people who participated in person received a free book by a queer and/or trans author, including Charlie Jane Anders, Mara “M.M.” Olivas, Ryka Aoki, Andrew Joseph White, and Rivers Solomon. A highlight of the event was a reading by Olivas, a trans femme author and recent SJSU MFA graduate, who read from her new novel and then joined an MA class in literature after the event.

The symposium was supported by the SJSU College of Humanities and Arts, the Steinbeck Center, the MLK Library, the Department of Humanities, and the SJSU Pride and Gender Equity Center. In addition to the 40 people in attendance, 13 participated through Zoom, with digital engagement of over 3,500 through Vimeo, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

In the words of the organizers:

"As an activist-oriented arts event, 'Making Queer and Trans Worlds' responded directly to the marked rise in public animosity against queer and trans literature, including access to that literature in schools and libraries. Together, parties from across the university created a space where we could share laughs, serious critique of social problems, and insights into the significance and cultures of queer and trans creative expression. The event created a space of connection and conversation where folks could be fed and leave with a book from a range of intersections inclusive of BIPOC and trans experiences."