BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Ellen Lamont, associate professor in Appalachian State University's Department of Sociology, is the co-author of a recent paper published in Social Currents. The study's data collection and analysis was made possible by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences' Student And Faculty Excellence (SAFE) Fund.
The study, titled "Coming Out Queer: Sexual and Romantic Exploration and Identity Development of LGBQ+ College Students," explores how the transition to college supports the identity development of LGBQ+ students. In 2017, Dr. Lamont received a SAFE Fund grant to compensate an undergraduate research assistant to help with data collection and analysis. She hired Sope Kahn ’20, a student in the Art Education and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies programs at the time, to recruit 26 LGBQ+ students at App State for interviews and analyze the results of the interviews.
"As we found, because of the resources on campus, LGBQ+ students were able to find supportive spaces and communities that allowed them to develop more positive senses of self. However, students also suggested a need for more spaces that enable casual socializing rather than social organizing," explained Lamont, who co-authored the study with Dr. Teresa Roach, a former lecturer in the Department of Sociology and current faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Florida State University. "The research helps us understand more broadly the needs of LGBQ+ students on campus and what forms of support are working and what forms are still needed. It also supported a student interested in learning the research process."
The SAFE Fund is currently accepting applications through Monday, February 10, 2025, at 5 p.m. To learn more about how the SAFE Fund provides resources that can be used to transform the undergraduate and graduate experience and support faculty teaching, research, and engagement, visit cas.appstate.edu/students/student-and-faculty-excellence-safe-fund.
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About the Department of Sociology
The Department of Sociology offers a Bachelor of Arts and seven Bachelor of Science concentrations (applied research methods; criminology; families and intimate relationships; health and aging; power and social change; social inequalities; and individually designed, which requires departmental approval). The department also offers minors in sociology and health and aging, plus two online graduate certificates: aging, health and society, and sociology. Learn more at soc.appstate.edu.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and locations. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,800 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at cas.appstate.edu.
By Lauren Gibbs and Dr. Ellen Lamont
January 22, 2025
BOONE, N.C.
Dr. Ellen Lamont, associate professor in Appalachian State University's Department of Sociology, is the co-author of a recent paper published in Social Currents. Photo by University Communications.
Dr. Ellen Lamont, associate professor in Appalachian State University's Department of Sociology, is the co-author of a recent paper published in Social Currents. Photo by University Communications.