University of Michigan School of Information assistant professor Megan Threats has been named the 2024/2025 Michigan State University Stephen O. Murray Scholar in Residence. 

The Murray Scholar in Residence program honors the legacy of James Madison College (JMC) alumnus Stephen Murray (’72) who passed away in 2019. Murray, an activist, scholar and historian, advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and published research on a variety of topics, including sexual and gender diversity, sociolinguistics and the history of social sciences. 

The scholar in residence program encourages LGBTQ+ scholarship by providing academic access to archives located in the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections and by supporting engagement with the college community.

During her residency, Threats will be leading a series of workshops and events titled “A Litany for Survival: Towards Health Justice for Queer BIPOC Communities,” which pays homage to a poem by Audre Lorde, who used her activism, art, research and experience as a librarian to advocate for social justice. 

“I’m excited to host a series of public lectures honoring the legacy of Murray and the legacy of librarians who have engaged in activist work with a focus on intersectionality,” Threats says. “I see my work as an extension of this long history of Black librarians who built scholarship that spoke to how converging systems of oppression impact the lives of our communities.”

Threats’ research looks at the ways in which technology can be used to improve health outcomes among marginalized communities with a specific focus on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Threats’ background as a librarian, including her work in Philadelphia with HIV/AIDS communities and incarcerated individuals, informs her current research and approach to community engagement.

Outside of the public talks, Threats will be using resources at MSU to conduct a research project that focuses on documenting the history of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ organizations across the state of Michigan, digitizing them and putting them into a special collection. 

“It’s a passion project,” she says. “I’m looking forward to preserving the history of our communities and talking to different organizations, particularly those who do work around health justice, sexual reproductive health and mental health. How did they stand the test of time? What types of challenges have they had to endure? How did they navigate the system and thrived despite systems of oppression?” 

A JMC alumna, Threats is enthusiastic about returning and engaging with students and the special collections. 

“When I was an undergraduate student, anybody who knew me knew I lived in the special collections,” she says. “I’m excited to be in a position to bolster the importance of utilizing library resources at universities. There’s a big political shift happening and what I want students to take is the magic of exploring a special collection and taking the time. Everything isn’t on Google, everything isn’t online, sometimes you have to get into those stacks and explore.” 

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Learn more about Megan Threats by visiting her UMSI faculty profile. 

The first workshop in this year’s Stephen O. Murray Scholar in Residence series will be held on Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. in the JMC Library.

— Noor Hindi, UMSI public relations specialist