Fearful that colleges students today are 40% lower in empathy than colleges students 20 years ago (Komives, 2017), Dr. Carson Medley created the PEAKS (Persistence, Empathy, Authenticity, Knowledge, Skills) course. As a culminating activity, the class will turn Carter Hall into the first-ever nationwide college campus and student-led Empathy Museum for a day based on different experiential learning experiences offered throughout the semester. Each group of students will be responsible for turning one of their experiences into an exhibit at the Honors College Empathy Museum. Each exhibit will require an interview and research about the issue. The entire campus (students, staff, faculty, and administrators) will be invited to participate in the interactive empathy museum. The curators (a chemistry major and a microbiology major) for the museum are Changemaker Scholars. The Changemaker program curriculum focuses on human rights, global awareness, and global engagement through the lens of volunteering and community engagement. The purpose of this Changemaker Capstone is to inspire others around the world to create their own Empathy Museums to address xenophobia, Black Lives Matter, gender inequities, immigration policies, LGTBQI+ rights, politics, global warming, the Covid-19 pandemic, and others. We believe that these empathy-focused exhibits will empower and affirm spaces on college campuses as restorative environments and reiterate the healing power of beauty and culture.

Openly LGBTQ+ Faculty have a positive effect on LGBTQ+ students. LGBTQ+ students are often highly stigmatized, especially within STEM focused academic programs and universities, (Cooper, K.M., et al, 2020). This is seen through the ways LGBTQ+ students are treated, excluded and the fear of coming out, or letting someone in on their sexuality. This study uses Queer Theory. Queer Theory is a sociological look at how examining and representing gender and sexuality in media, entertainment and daily life affects the interpretation of LGBTQ+ individuals, (Valoochi, S., 2005). Looking through the lens of queer theory, we can see that having representation makes people feel more comfortable and gives permission for authenticity. Through looking at the effects and knowledge of queer theory in correlation with this research, the connection between having openly LGBTQ+ faculty representation and the positive effect on LGBTQ+ students. Faculty includes all individuals who teach and are tenured. This may include those who serve in administrative positions such as a deanship or a directorship.