IU names interim director for LGBTQ+ culture center

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Bruce Smail has been named interim director of the Indiana University LGBTQ+ Culture Center and special assistant to the vice president. Smail replaces Doug Bauder, who is retiring after leading the LGBTQ+ Culture Center for 25 years.

Smail most recently served as deputy director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. He has also served as director of the Cross Cultural Center at the University of California, Davis, director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Resource Center at the University of Colorado and as a diversity education specialist at Indiana University Bloomington.

He will be responsible for developing programming support services to address issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, intersectionality and social justice. Smail will also manage the LGBTQ+ Culture Center’s budget and supervise staff, graduate assistants and volunteers.

In the special assistant to the vice president role, Smail will assess the IU Bloomington campus’s five culture centers: Asian Culture Center, First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, La Casa Latino Cultural Center, LGBTQ+ Culture Center and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

“Bruce is an outstanding advocate for critical issues involving the LGBTQ+ community,” said James Wimbush, vice president for diversity, equity and multicultural affairs; dean of The University Graduate School; and Johnson Chair for Diversity and Leadership at Indiana University. “He will play a critical role in leading the assessment and planning necessary to meet the needs of students and the IU community for the next 25 years.”

Smail will step into his new role in January.