{"id":26938,"date":"2023-06-02T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=26938&preview=true&preview_id=26938"},"modified":"2024-07-08T06:04:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T10:04:17","slug":"profiles-in-it-pat-steffes-trans-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2023\/06\/02\/profiles-in-it-pat-steffes-trans-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Profiles in IT: Pat Steffes\u2014Trans advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Colette
Pat Steffes (right) and their partner, Colette Keyser. (Image courtesy Pat Steffes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a U-M Dearborn alumni and ITS Information Assurance (IA) senior software programmer analyst, Pat Steffes (they\/them) applies their skills and passion to creating and leveraging inclusive technology, engaging in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts at U-M, and supporting the broader transgender community in cybersecurity. Pat is one of the 1.4 million adults in the US<\/a> identifying as transgender and also identifies as non-binary. They recall growing up hearing about U-M fighting for racial diversity<\/a> and the rights of marginalized groups, and knowing it was somewhere they wanted to be. After almost ten years of working on IA\u2019s Identity and Access Management (IAM) team, Pat still feels immense gratitude for finding an inclusive environment and unconditional support within their team and by IA and ITS leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pat grew up in Livonia, Michigan, and attended a Catholic elementary school. The traditional environment gave Pat a profound understanding of the obstacles they would face as transgender. \u201cDeep down, I knew that I was trans, and I understood that I had to be perfect if I was going to exist.\u201d Though Pat didn\u2019t begin their transition journey until several years after starting at U-M, they attribute their ability to come out as trans at work to the DEI efforts they witnessed in IA. \u201cThe IAM team was 50% female when I first joined, and the first training I received was a DEI course provided by IA. I also heard managers like Chris Hable<\/a>, and IAM Director DePriest Dockins<\/a>, consistently speaking about and acting on DEI initiatives.\u201d In addition, Pat has been encouraged by the overall support for DEI by coworkers across ITS. \u201cI\u2019ve truly felt more supported by ITS and my coworkers’ efforts to use my chosen name and pronouns than some of the friends and relatives in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With many friends who cannot come out and are uncomfortable with changing their pronouns at work, Pat is dedicated to living authentically and paving the way for others to do so. Pat focuses much of their energy on inclusive technology supporting the LGBTQIA+ U-M community, including solutions that enable others to update their pronouns and preferred names in U-M-provided services. \u201cIt\u2019s dehumanizing not to be called the name you identify with or have others use your chosen pronouns.\u201d Pat also works with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees at ITS and co-presented at the 2022 Michigan IT Symposium on Leveraging Technology to Enable Inclusion<\/a>, where they shared their experience and the importance of inclusive technology for marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Pat celebrates ITS\u2019 commitment to DEI and the support they\u2019ve received throughout their transition, they also recognize there\u2019s still work to be done at U-M. Pat would like higher priority associated with DEI projects, including creating a single space to update identity information, such as Chosen Name, for all U-M systems and services. \u201cMy team sometimes has to reshuffle priorities to make room for important projects. That doesn\u2019t happen with these DEI efforts, and I would like to see this be a priority now, instead of a future project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pat and their partner live in Ypsilanti, share two dogs and two cats, and are very involved with the local LBGTQIA+ community. They also share a passion for supporting feminists and queer artists in the Metro Detroit area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refer to Diversity Equity and Inclusion<\/a> to learn more about DEI efforts at U-M. For more information on IAM’s work, refer to Identity and Access Management<\/a>. Finally, refer to Faculty and Staff Counseling and Consultation Office<\/a> (FASCCO) if you need mental health care and emotional support, including confidential and professional counseling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published in the Spring 2023 Safe Computing Newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pat Steffes is a senior software programmer analyst with ITS Information Assurance (IA). They are UM-Dearborn alumni and a passionate advocate for the transgender community in cybersecurity. They also enjoy supporting feminists and queer artists in the Metro Detroit area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":27002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[488,332,188,509],"class_list":["post-26938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-cybersecurity","tag-ia","tag-people","tag-profile-1"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small.png",800,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-400x266.png",400,266,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-300x225.png",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-768x576.png",665,499,true],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-600x450.png",600,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small.png",800,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small.png",800,600,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-200x140.png",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-60x42.png",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-658x300.png",658,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-665x499.png",665,499,true],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_3-4-Ratio-Small-400x250.png",400,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jennifer Wilkerson, ITS Support Services and Emerging Technology","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/jmruk\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Pat Steffes is a senior software programmer analyst with ITS Information Assurance (IA). They are UM-Dearborn alumni and a passionate advocate for the transgender community in cybersecurity. They also enjoy supporting feminists and queer artists in the Metro Detroit area.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26938"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27007,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26938\/revisions\/27007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}