Bethy Leonardi

Bethy Leonardi serves as Associate Professor in the Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice program within the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. She co-founded and co-directs A Queer Endeavor, a nationally recognized queer-run initiative advancing gender and sexual diversity in educational settings through deep partnerships with school districts and communities.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice, University of Colorado Boulder (2014)
• MA in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice, University of Colorado Boulder (2007)
• BA in English Education, Nicholls State University (1996)

Leonardi's research critically examines how compulsory public school systems affirm, include, deny, or silence queer identities through policy-practice relationships. She investigates how educators disrupt cis-heteronormative school ecologies by 'tilling the soil' for transformative policies that create schools proactively ready for LGBTQ+ youth rather than merely reactive to crises. Her scholarship emphasizes healing institutional harm through anti-oppressive frameworks rooted in queer, critical, and transformative pedagogies.

Analysis of her publications reveals consistent focus on policy implementation challenges, educator transformation processes, and trans-affirming administrative practices within K-12 systems. Her work bridges theoretical queer frameworks with actionable strategies for dismantling heteronormativity in school cultures, demonstrating strong interdisciplinary connections between education policy, gender studies, and social justice pedagogy.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Best Should Teach Gold Award
• Kalpana Chawla Award
• President’s Diversity Award (all from CU Boulder)

Leonardi's community-based work through A Queer Endeavor involves direct collaboration with school districts to develop humanizing practices and resources that move beyond basic safety toward authentic inclusion for LGBTQ+ youth, families, and staff. Her teaching philosophy centers on education as 'a practice of freedom' through learning communities emphasizing self-reflexivity, vulnerability, and actionable social change.

A Queer Endeavor functions as her primary research and outreach hub, operating as a grassroots initiative that directly informs her scholarship through community-engaged partnerships focused on systemic transformation of school ecologies.