The LGBT Student Leadership is given by the Commission for LGBT People to a student who demonstrates a commitment to advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues on campus.
Jennifer Dobbins
Active in UT’s LGBT community since her undergraduate days, law student Jennifer Dobbins is now a graduate research assistant for the Commission for LGBT People and the Commission for Women. Typically, the GRA’s role would be to update the website, keep minutes, and assist the commission chairs. But Dobbins’s efforts go well beyond these administrative duties. She keeps everyone informed about proposed legislation and other pertinent developments across the nation. “Jennifer understands the intersectionality that we mean by diversity,” her nominator said. “People who are marginalized often identify as members of more than one minority.” Both commissions benefit, individually and collectively, from Dobbins’s passion to inform, educate, and advocate. And they’re not the only groups that Dobbins assists. She also serves as a judicial extern for Knox County Chancery Court’s Domestic Violence Clinic and has represented numerous clients through her work for UT’s Domestic Violence Legal Clinic.