Gwendolyn Alden Dean has been named coordinator of Cornell University's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, ending a six-month national search.

Dean most recently was director of Stanford University's Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Center. She assumed her new position in mid-December, said Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, and Winnie F. Taylor, former associate provost, who announced the appointment jointly.

As coordinator Dean is responsible for directing the resource center that serves students, faculty and staff, designs and initiates new programs and coordinates existing programs and services that address homophobia and support Cornell's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

Murphy said Dean was chosen from a strong nationwide applicant pool. "I am confident that in Gwendolyn Dean we have found a strong leader for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center," Murphy said. "Her direct experience in working in a resource center will serve us well, as will the passion and vision she brings to the job. We are indeed fortunate to have Gwendolyn joining our staff."

Taylor said Dean "is an outstanding addition to the LGBT Resource Center. Under her leadership, the center will undoubtedly expand its programming, strengthen its coalition-building and otherwise enhance diversity in the university community, particularly as it relates to issues pertaining to sexual identity. We are pleased that she is joining us."

Dean said she was eager to come to Cornell because the center here is responsible for working with faculty and staff as well as with students. At Stanford she worked only with students.

"I'm delighted to be here. I'm extremely impressed with the university, and Ithaca is charming," Dean said. "I was particularly interested in Cornell because the LGBTRC was thoughtfully designed to be effective in coordinating anti-heterosexism efforts throughout the

university, rather than being solely responsible for those efforts. I wanted to work with a center that had responsibility for faculty and staff concerns as well as students. I was also very interested in the opportunity to work with other professionals involved with LGBT issues in peer education and support, counseling, LGBT studies and library collections."

Dean said she wants to get as much information as possible from members of the LGBT university communities, "so that my agenda can be responsive to the communities' needs." She plans to be very involved with the employee group this semester and to initiate a satellite office program on the perimeter of campus.

"I'll be meeting with representatives of the LGBT student groups early in the semester to develop a clearer structure for the relationship of student groups to the LGBTRC," Dean said. "With the advisory board of the LGBTRC, I'll be preparing a strategic plan for the center that will include short- and long-term goals. The plan will evaluate which parts of the university provide comfortable climates for LGBT people and what types of support the LGBTRC can offer to sustain these successful efforts. It also will determine which parts of the university need additional development to provide comfortable climates for LGBT people and how the LGBTRC can most effectively participate in that development."

Before taking the position at Stanford, Dean was graduate coordinator in the Office of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Life at Emory University in Atlanta. She joined that office in 1992 while working on her Ph.D.

Dean received her master of fine arts degree from the University of California at Irvine in 1986 and her bachelor's degree from UC Irvine in 1983. She hopes to complete work on her doctoral degree in May 2000.