Accolades for Trans* In College
Published in 2017, Trans* In College is the first book-length empirical study focusing on trans* college students. The text has been adopted as a central text in various higher education and student affairs graduate preparation program courses, including those related to diversity and equity, qualitative research methods, and campus environments.
Trans* In College was the winner of the 2017 Outstanding Publication Award from the American Educational Research Association's Division J. It has also received praise from various scholars across the fields of higher education, student affairs, gender and women's studies, and trans studies.
What People Are Saying About Trans* In College
"There is something to be said about the responsibility and pressures that must come with writing the first ever book on U.S. trans collegians. What Nicolazzo achieves through Trans in College cannot be understated and ze has given the rest of us an incredible standard to meet. The binding together of the emotional, the intellectual, and the practical is an activist endeavor in and of itself, a demonstration of a text existing in its full humanity, and a testament to the potential and power of public scholarship crafted towards liberatory aims. If there is anything more that I could have asked for, it would have been for this book to have been written when I was in my own trans becoming. How I would have devoured it, much like the barista in Chicago who once saw my copy of the book and had to tell me how much it meant to them and their trans boyfriend. I hope Adem, BC, Derek, Jackson, Kade, Megan, Micah, Raegan, and Silvia are all proud of their work with Nicolazzo and how ze has immortalized their truths.
T.J. Jourian, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Human Services - Oakland University
"I was moved to tears at times, sometimes from joy and other times from profound disgust in the behavior of others towards trans* students. The book reminded me of my own journey as a trans* collegian, especially my last year when I began publicly identifying as trans* and the kinship network of which I was a part. This is precisely the right book for our current higher education moment."
Erich N. Pitcher, Program Lead, Adult & Higher Education - Oregon State University
"The author offers this well-written, revealing ethnographic study of nine trans* college students and sheds light on an area of gender identity that has long needed attention, especially in the wake of an upsurge in bias crimes and a concerted effort to thwart the rights of trans* people. (It’s not just about the bathroom!) The book gives voice to the students within a broad understanding of sexuality and identity that people have tended to look at from a binary perspective (gay/straight, male/female). Such an oversimplification ignores the lives of those who are most directly affected. Because the book specifically considers how trans* individuals function within a college setting, it is especially recommended as a must-read resource for higher education administrators, faculty, and those providing support services."
H. M. Miller, Mercy College - CHOICE
"With recent estimates of the trans* population in the United States showing three to six times as many trans* people under the age of 18 as there are over the age of 18, the work Z Nicolazzo undertakes in this book should be required reading for educators at every level of instruction. Gender is changing in ways we can scarcely comprehend, and millions of students already live lives that break the gender binary and contest what Nicolazzo calls 'compulsory heterogenderism.' We owe it to those students to acknowledge their reality, and reflect it in our pedagogy, curriculum, and institutional practices."
Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies - University of Arizona, and founding co-editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
“A timely and persuasive contribution to the literature on communities on the margins of higher education, Nicolazzo offers deep insight into the multiplicity of intersectional and systemic barriers faced by trans* collegians. But this book goes far past the expected story of trans* suffering to powerfully center trans* resilience and voice. The trans* students at the heart of this work demand better from all of us. A must read for all concerned with true inclusion and change in the academy. For every higher education administrator and change agent, this book offers a clarion call to consider how the collegiate environment continues to be shaped without trans* students in mind.”
Sumun L. Pendakur, Chief Learning Officer and Director of the USC Equity Institutes - University of Southern California Race and Equity Center
“Z Nicolazzo offers a powerful analysis of trans* collegian’s experiences and honors their voices. Ze delivers a thoughtful and provocative book about resilience, kinship, and social justice, requiring readers to think more critically about safety, outness, engagement, and identity. Nicolazzo’s book draws much needed attention to trans* oppression in higher education, how we are all implicated, and calls for us to re-think our approach to practices that shape our campus environments.”
Chase Catalano, Assistant Professor, College Student Personnel - Western Illinois University
"In a society and educational system that repeatedly marginalizes trans* people, Z Nicolazzo has done what few higher education scholars attempt; that is, Z not only centers the experiences of Trans* college students but presents their stories in a way that brings visibility to their lives and wonderfully humanizes them as whole people. Trans* In College is an amazingly thoughtful and introspective examination of what it means to both navigate and transgress the exclusive structures, policies, and culture of post-secondary institutions. Readers will appreciate Z’s approach in this book, particularly hir capacity to complicate existing Trans*-related research and the liminal space that Trans* persons have occupied in gender and sexuality discourses. This book is a necessary read for anyone, particularly cisgender people, seeking to understand Trans* lives and experiences in college. While the emphasis is on Trans* students, this book has larger implications for facilitating social justice on college and university campuses. This book should be required classroom reading and would be an outstanding resource for professional development programs. Lastly, this book should serve as inspiration to prompt future research which centers Trans* lives."
Lori D. Patton, Professor, Higher Education & Student Affairs Program - Indiana University School of Education
"Dr. Z Nicolazzo’s first book, Trans* in College is a beautifully written, rigorous, and masterful insight into the lives of nine trans* collegians at City University [a pseudonym] and how postsecondary educators can do better to support the education, resilience practices, and life chances for trans* collegians. Through the use of critical theoretical frameworks and methodologies that begin from the experiences and needs of the participants, Nicolazzo also demonstrates new possibilities for both the doing and reporting of research in higher education. As a scholar, I look forward to sharing this book with future graduate students as an example of how we can proliferate possibilities through and for scholarship. As a trans* parent of a trans* child, I am unspeakably grateful to the nine trans* collegians who have collaborated with Nicolazzo to create together this beautiful reflection of us."
D-L Stewart, Professor and Co-Chair, Student Affairs in Higher Education Program - Colorado State University
“There has never been a more important time for a book like this one that helps readers know that trans* college students are not only possible, but they face the seemingly impossible task of speaking their stories and, in the tradition of minoritized peoples, writing themselves into existence."
Kristen Renn, Professor, Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education - Michigan State University
"I would consider it a seminal work that stands as an important touchstone in our field."
Tim Miller, The George Washington University
Trans* In College was the winner of the 2017 Outstanding Publication Award from the American Educational Research Association's Division J. It has also received praise from various scholars across the fields of higher education, student affairs, gender and women's studies, and trans studies.
What People Are Saying About Trans* In College
"There is something to be said about the responsibility and pressures that must come with writing the first ever book on U.S. trans collegians. What Nicolazzo achieves through Trans in College cannot be understated and ze has given the rest of us an incredible standard to meet. The binding together of the emotional, the intellectual, and the practical is an activist endeavor in and of itself, a demonstration of a text existing in its full humanity, and a testament to the potential and power of public scholarship crafted towards liberatory aims. If there is anything more that I could have asked for, it would have been for this book to have been written when I was in my own trans becoming. How I would have devoured it, much like the barista in Chicago who once saw my copy of the book and had to tell me how much it meant to them and their trans boyfriend. I hope Adem, BC, Derek, Jackson, Kade, Megan, Micah, Raegan, and Silvia are all proud of their work with Nicolazzo and how ze has immortalized their truths.
T.J. Jourian, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Human Services - Oakland University
"I was moved to tears at times, sometimes from joy and other times from profound disgust in the behavior of others towards trans* students. The book reminded me of my own journey as a trans* collegian, especially my last year when I began publicly identifying as trans* and the kinship network of which I was a part. This is precisely the right book for our current higher education moment."
Erich N. Pitcher, Program Lead, Adult & Higher Education - Oregon State University
"The author offers this well-written, revealing ethnographic study of nine trans* college students and sheds light on an area of gender identity that has long needed attention, especially in the wake of an upsurge in bias crimes and a concerted effort to thwart the rights of trans* people. (It’s not just about the bathroom!) The book gives voice to the students within a broad understanding of sexuality and identity that people have tended to look at from a binary perspective (gay/straight, male/female). Such an oversimplification ignores the lives of those who are most directly affected. Because the book specifically considers how trans* individuals function within a college setting, it is especially recommended as a must-read resource for higher education administrators, faculty, and those providing support services."
H. M. Miller, Mercy College - CHOICE
"With recent estimates of the trans* population in the United States showing three to six times as many trans* people under the age of 18 as there are over the age of 18, the work Z Nicolazzo undertakes in this book should be required reading for educators at every level of instruction. Gender is changing in ways we can scarcely comprehend, and millions of students already live lives that break the gender binary and contest what Nicolazzo calls 'compulsory heterogenderism.' We owe it to those students to acknowledge their reality, and reflect it in our pedagogy, curriculum, and institutional practices."
Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies - University of Arizona, and founding co-editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
“A timely and persuasive contribution to the literature on communities on the margins of higher education, Nicolazzo offers deep insight into the multiplicity of intersectional and systemic barriers faced by trans* collegians. But this book goes far past the expected story of trans* suffering to powerfully center trans* resilience and voice. The trans* students at the heart of this work demand better from all of us. A must read for all concerned with true inclusion and change in the academy. For every higher education administrator and change agent, this book offers a clarion call to consider how the collegiate environment continues to be shaped without trans* students in mind.”
Sumun L. Pendakur, Chief Learning Officer and Director of the USC Equity Institutes - University of Southern California Race and Equity Center
“Z Nicolazzo offers a powerful analysis of trans* collegian’s experiences and honors their voices. Ze delivers a thoughtful and provocative book about resilience, kinship, and social justice, requiring readers to think more critically about safety, outness, engagement, and identity. Nicolazzo’s book draws much needed attention to trans* oppression in higher education, how we are all implicated, and calls for us to re-think our approach to practices that shape our campus environments.”
Chase Catalano, Assistant Professor, College Student Personnel - Western Illinois University
"In a society and educational system that repeatedly marginalizes trans* people, Z Nicolazzo has done what few higher education scholars attempt; that is, Z not only centers the experiences of Trans* college students but presents their stories in a way that brings visibility to their lives and wonderfully humanizes them as whole people. Trans* In College is an amazingly thoughtful and introspective examination of what it means to both navigate and transgress the exclusive structures, policies, and culture of post-secondary institutions. Readers will appreciate Z’s approach in this book, particularly hir capacity to complicate existing Trans*-related research and the liminal space that Trans* persons have occupied in gender and sexuality discourses. This book is a necessary read for anyone, particularly cisgender people, seeking to understand Trans* lives and experiences in college. While the emphasis is on Trans* students, this book has larger implications for facilitating social justice on college and university campuses. This book should be required classroom reading and would be an outstanding resource for professional development programs. Lastly, this book should serve as inspiration to prompt future research which centers Trans* lives."
Lori D. Patton, Professor, Higher Education & Student Affairs Program - Indiana University School of Education
"Dr. Z Nicolazzo’s first book, Trans* in College is a beautifully written, rigorous, and masterful insight into the lives of nine trans* collegians at City University [a pseudonym] and how postsecondary educators can do better to support the education, resilience practices, and life chances for trans* collegians. Through the use of critical theoretical frameworks and methodologies that begin from the experiences and needs of the participants, Nicolazzo also demonstrates new possibilities for both the doing and reporting of research in higher education. As a scholar, I look forward to sharing this book with future graduate students as an example of how we can proliferate possibilities through and for scholarship. As a trans* parent of a trans* child, I am unspeakably grateful to the nine trans* collegians who have collaborated with Nicolazzo to create together this beautiful reflection of us."
D-L Stewart, Professor and Co-Chair, Student Affairs in Higher Education Program - Colorado State University
“There has never been a more important time for a book like this one that helps readers know that trans* college students are not only possible, but they face the seemingly impossible task of speaking their stories and, in the tradition of minoritized peoples, writing themselves into existence."
Kristen Renn, Professor, Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education - Michigan State University
"I would consider it a seminal work that stands as an important touchstone in our field."
Tim Miller, The George Washington University
