People

Office of LGBT Life Advisory Committee

Dohyun Ahn
Undergraduate Student
Emory College

Having graduated from Walton High School in Mareitta, GA, Dohyun founded a Gay-Straight Alliance at his high school with both difficulty and friendly help. He was the GSA’s president for a year, during which he and his officers helped jump start GSAs in other schools around the area. The Walton GSA also held a charity dance for UGA HEROS, which helps children with AIDS. Dohyun is now a freshman at the Emory College and still undecided about a major; he’s just trying to explore all his options. He is active in the community and hopes to become much more active in college. Otherwise, he loves acting, plays cello, tries to sing, and writes poetry.

Meg Ahrens
Assistant Athletic Director for Student Services and Membership

Willie Bannister, LPC
Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Prevention Counselor
Student Health and Counseling

Jaclyn Barbarow
Alumna

After studying religion, women's studies, and journalism, Jaclyn graduated in 2006 with a B.A. Since then she has worked at Senior Citizen Services, first as the manager of Meals On Wheels Atlanta and more recently as Grants and Database Manager. As a volunteer, she has served on the Planning Committee of the Southern Comfort Conference since January 2007 and is the Director of the Robert Eads Health Project, working with the Feminist Women's Health Center. She also works with the Athens Transgender Advocacy Coalition (ATAC(k)!). With her partner, she coordinates the English as a Second Language program of the Economic Justice Coalition. Jaclyn has half of a degree in public administration and nonprofit management and worked briefly with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and with the City of Atlanta's Commission on Aging. She is a published author, a fierce ally, a feminist, and a proud auntie.

While at Emory, Jaclyn wrote and edited for The Emory Wheel, managed the Dobbs University Center, served as secretary for the President's Commission (then on LGBT Concerns), worked behind the scenes for various theater and dance shows, talked a lot about queer and trans issues, and ate a lot of Ben and Jerry's in lieu of drinking beer. Her favorite academic pursuits included illuminating the inherent trans-inclusiveness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, comparing induced spiritual experiences in the Bible and in various times and cultures, and in exploring women's same-sex sexual experiences as valid forms of Christian worship.

Jaclyn lives in Athens, Ga., with her sweetheart Ethan and their three cats. In her "spare time" she crafts, knits, gardens, listens to public radio, strings together grammatically poor sentences of Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, German, and Koine Greek, and insists that there are "plenty of revolutions left until we get this thing right."

Paul Bredderman
Assistant Director
Emory Career Center

Paul Bredderman has been in his role as Assistant Director since January 2008, and has served as a Career Counselor at Emory University since August 2003, where he specializes in helping undergraduates, graduate students and recent alumni with their self-assessment and career decision-making needs.  He is professionally active in the Georgia Career Development Association and the National Career Development Association.  Paul also holds a Masters in Counseling and Educational Development from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Bachelors in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Rev. Saul Burleson
Assistant Chaplain and Program Associate
Office of Religious Life

Saul graduated from Emory’s Candler School of Theology with a Master’s of Divinity in 2009 and began working as the Assistant Chaplain for the Office of Religious Life. As an ordained Cooperative Baptist minister and ecumenical oblate of the Monastery of The Holy Spirit, Saul specializes in interfaith initiatives and programs on campus. Caring as a chaplain, he also provides a listening ear and ministry of presence to students from a range of religious backgrounds, from Hindu to Jewish to Buddhist to Methodist. Although Saul lives in Atlanta, GA, he is a native of Asheville, NC, where he enjoys retreating to for weekend hikes and time outdoors.

Matthew J. Deslauriers
Undergraduate Student
Emory College

Matthew is a sophomore at Emory College, having spent his freshman year at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. Born and raised in Palo Alto, CA, Matthew attended Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, CA. As one of a few openly gay students for much of his secondary school career he took an active role in the school’s Gay–Straight alliance in addition to sharing his experience growing up gay on a number of panels both in and outside of the school. He was elected student body president his senior year of high school and continued to help foster an accepting environment free of the harassment and bullying he experienced growing up.Matthew is pleased to be serving Emory’s LGBT community and looking forward to LGBT life both on Emory’s campus and within the larger Atlanta community.

Conrad Honicker
Undergraduate Student
Emory College

From starting the first Gay-Straight Alliance in Knox County, to staging demonstrations, to holding rallies, to meeting the President, Conrad Honickerhas been there! With his roots in the heart of East Tennessee, Conrad carries principles of nonviolence and direct action learned from the Highlander Center. At Emory, Conrad is pursuing a double major in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Environmental Studies. He is co-President of Feminists in Action, works at the Center for Women, and is involved with Emory Pride and Issues Troupe.

India Jones
Undergraduate Student
Emory College

Jason Meeks
Police Dispatcher
Emory Police Department

Aby Parsons
Graduate Student
Department of Women's Studies

Aby grew up in Bristol, England, and earned a BA in American Studies and MA by Research in U.S. Women’s Literature at the University of Central Lancashire. Aby came to Emory in 2008 to join the Department of Women’s Studies as a PhD student, with research interests in lesbian history and culture, queer theory, and feminist film and literary theory. She currently serves as a graduate assistant in the Department of Film Studies, and is involved with various activities in the Office of LGBT Life. Outside of Emory, Aby volunteers with the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center and Georgia Equality, and, in the spare time she has left, enjoys running, cooking, hiking, camping, and playing guitar. She lives in Decatur with her partner, Kal, and their Great Dane/lab mix, Ollie.

Jon Pennycuff is a native of Dousman, WI.  He received a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University and then obtained a Masters of Science in Public Health at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Jon is currently a second year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine, where he is the president of the Emory Medical Alliance, the School of Medicine’s LGBT organization.

As president of EMA, Jon works with other medical students and faculty members to promote a stronger sense of unity among the LGBT community and their allies at the School of Medicine as well as raising awareness regarding issues in LGBT healthcare.  His efforts include facilitating lunch time talks regarding LGBT healthcare, increasing LGBT healthcare presence in the School of Medicine curriculum, and organizing the School of Medicine’s first LGBT healthcare week.  Prior moving to Atlanta, Jon worked in public health and consulted on projects focused on immunization, tobacco-free living, and HIV prevention.   

Elizabeth Redpath
Law Student (2L)

Elizabeth was born and raised in High Point, North Carolina and attended Davidson College, where she graduated with a degree in English in 2004. She immediately moved to Atlanta and have lived there ever since. In the years between undergraduate and law school, Elizabeth worked in marketing and business development for several employers, including a 2 year stint in advertising sales for Window Media (former owner of Southern Voice, Atlanta’s GBLTQ newspaper, now defunct). Elizabeth is very involved in several of Atlanta’s gay and lesbian community organizations, most notably the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative, where I volunteer my time in marketing and communications. She is also the founder and author of a blog devoted to raising awareness of GBLTQ issues and encouraging activism in that arena. Check it out at: www.milkwasright.blogspot.com.

Elizabeth is now in her first-year at Emory Law, and would like to practice public interest law (ideally, civil rights law) in Atlanta. She resides in Midtown with her partner, Brantley, who works in the athletic department at Georgia Tech, and when not working/studying, they can be found jogging, walking, or tossing a Frisbee in Piedmont Park. They are also proud members of St. Mark United Methodist Church.

Dr. Cynthia Whitehead-LaBoo
Associate Director for Clinical Services
Licensed Psychologist
Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology
Student Health and Counseling

Dr. Cynthia Whitehead-LaBoo is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.  She received her BA from Spelman College and her MA and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State University.  She has worked at the Emory University Student Counseling Center for 18 years and is currently serving as the Associate Director of Clinical Services. She has presented on various topics related to eating disorders, body image, and psychotherapy with African American women and authored a chapter in Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders: The Heart of the Matter.