DGALA recently activated a Board of Advisors, comprised of members who have been of exceptional service. The Board of Advisors serves as an advisory body to the Board of Directors. For “DGALA President Brendan Connell, Jr. ’87 comments on the new Advisors,” see page 8 of the November 2015 Green Light.
Sarah Burgamy, Psy.D. is the founder of a very active private practice in Denver, Colorado, PhoenixRISE, with specialty offerings in identity development (considering intersections of target and non-target status identities), sexual minority competency as well as transgender and gender variant issues with adults, adolescents and children. She has previously instructed courses as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Denver in the Psy.D. program and the International Disaster Psychology Master’s program focused on arenas of development and culture, LGBTIQQ cultural competency, and cross cultural analysis.
Dr. Burgamy is the current Colorado Representative to the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives and a Board member of the Colorado Psychological Association (CPA). She has previously served as the Diversity Division Chair of CPA. Additionally, she worked as the contracted psychologist to Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) from 2007-2013, particularly the Youthbuild program, in Denver, serving low-income and, primarily, racial/ethnic minority youth ages 18-25. Dr. Burgamy has been a member of the Board of Directors for Urban Peak, a non-profit organization in Colorado serving youth experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless, since 2008.
Sarah told Green Light, “As a student at Dartmouth, nothing provided a sense of belonging, a sense of “home” away from my native Colorado, more than knowing I had a community. In my case, I was fortunate to know many “communities” as a member of Varsity Swimming, Dartmouth Women’s Rugby Club, Delta Delta Delta Sorority, Casque and Gauntlet, Palaeopitus, and the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance. With so many varied points of connection, when I graduated and left Dartmouth, I was appropriately worried about how I would maintain my sense of place at the small College on the hill so far from my hometown of Denver. DGALA became one such “home away from home” keeping me connected to the College even while my life continued to grow and change away from the gaze of Baker Tower and those particularly bone chilling winters walking from the pool to the Hopkins Center while my hair froze in place! As a result of the collective efforts of DGALA, I have made multiple trips back to campus over the years, co-hosted and attended local alumni events in Denver along with the LGBTQ alumni of the other Ivies, and without noticing, served a long tenure as a member of the DGALA Board of Directors from 2004-2014. Appropriately, I stepped down from this role after 10 years simply because I believe every organization thrives on new energy and ideas, new perspectives and dispositions (OK, this might also have something to do with my over-analysis of most things as a psychologist!). However, there is also a value to experience, institutional knowledge and collective wisdom (if I dare claim “wisdom”). I am pleased to join the inaugural DGALA Board of Advisors and relieved that my time away from the organization was brief!”
Cherie Holmes ’79 graduated from Georgetown University Medical School in 1983. She served three and a half years in the US Navy, including seven months in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War. Cherie has been at Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene since 1997, specializing in Sports Medicine Orthopedics, Orthopedics Trauma and General Orthopedics. She has served as a DGALA director and on the Dartmouth Alumni Council and is a member of the Dartmouth Club of Southwest New Hampshire. She told Green Light, “I am pleased to be able to serve on the DGALA Board of Advisors. Having been a previous board member, I am acutely knowledgeable of both the mission and vision of DGALA. Since the Board of Advisors not only provides an advisory role but also a strategic one, I hope to help bring to DGALA a recognition of diversity and inclusivity within the Dartmouth GLBTQ community as well as promoting the need for improved communication, intellectual and cultural freedom of expression for GLBTQ students within the Dartmouth environment.”
Ed Hermance ’62 is the retired owner of Giovanni’s Room, the legendary LGBT and feminist bookstore in Philadelphia. Ed is credited with founding DGALA, when he wrote to the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine in 1983, announcing the formation of an LGBT alum group and setting up its first meeting. Of his joining the Board of Advisors, Ed told Green Light, “It would be wonderful if I can contribute to making life better for students.”
The Rev. Nancy A.G. Vogele, ’85 served as Vice President of DGALA from 2000 to 2003 and as co-chair of its first all-class reunion in 2002. Nancy is Director of Religious and Spiritual life at Dartmouth. Before that, she served for almost 20 years in Episcopal parish ministry, most recently as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in White River Junction, Vt., from 2001 until August of 2012. In addition to her position at St. Paul’s, Nancy has been the chairperson of the Dismantling Racism Commission for the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, served as a member of the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection, and served as an officer for United Valley Interfaith Project, a community organizing project in the greater Upper Valley. Nancy also served as a volunteer for mission with the Episcopal Church from 1988-1990 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition to a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth, Nancy holds a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Susi Kandel ‘00 served as President of DGALA from 2006-11. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey and serves as General Counsel, Latin America for American Tower Corp. Susi told Green Light, “The Board of Advisors is a fantastic initiative. It taps into the experience of DGALA leaders to maintain institutional history and provide a perspective different from the Board of Directors. At the same time, the members of the Board of Advisors are able to remain connected to the organization in a way that is less time intensive than being a director, but no less meaningful.”
David Eichman ’82 is an attorney living in Los Angeles and practicing in West Hollywood. He served as President of DGLA from 1999 through 2005.
DGALA | Dartmouth LGBTQIA+ Alum Association 