We're less than one day away! Campus Pride's Summer Leadership Camp 2010 kicks off tomorrow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Last week, Camp got some quick shout outs. One of our Camp staff, John Corvino, gave us a quick nod at 365gay.com, as did Campus Progress -- whose Events Associate, Vincent Paolo Villano, is joining us as Camp faculty.

Check back here through the week as Pride Leaders Laura Graving and Ash Wickell keep us updated on all the cool happenings and goings-on at Camp. They'll share their thoughts through blogs posts, photos and vlogs! In fact, Ash got a jump on the vlogging this weekend. Check out hirs "(Re)Introduction" for more.

Whether you're one of gang heading to Nashville tomorrow, someone who had planned to come but couldn't or someone who might be interested in joining us next year (we so hope you do!), we thought it'd be a great idea to give our own "shout outs" and introduce this year's staff and faculty.

Read more after the jump...

We've got an awesome group of folks joining us as staff and faculty this year. We're awfully excited about the knowledge and experience they bring. It's gonna be a blast!

Introductions below...

Katie Ellen Barth has worked for Campus Pride behind the scenes for three years as a volunteer. This is her first year on staff with Campus Pride. She is an Alumni of Towson University class of 2005. While in pursuit of her degree in Theatre Arts at Towson, Katie was an active member of Queer Student Union. Currently she is a founding member of Iron Crow Theatre Company which focuses on bringing the work of local and queer artists to the stage. In her free time Katie enjoys photography and is excited to put her hobby to use for a great cause.

Michael Brown is the Associate Director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Life in the K.C. Potter Center at Vanderbilt University. Before joining the staff at Vanderbilt, he was the Coordinator for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Student Involvement and Leadership at Washington University in Saint Louis. A former board member of PROMO, the statewide LGBT political advocacy organization of Missouri, he now works as the Voter Registration Coordinator for the Nashville committee of the Tennessee Equality Project. In 2008 Michael received the Val DuMontier New Professional Award from the Standing Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Awareness of ACPA. (Fun Fact: the award spells it "Transgenger" and it took me until I was writing up this bio to notice). He also serves as the Treasurer of the National Consortium of LGBT Resource Professionals in Higher Education. An almost native Floridian, Michael received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from New York University and his Masters of Science in Education from Iowa State University. He's a fan of Cynthia Ozick, Abraham Heschel, and Sylvia Rivera (in that order).

John Corvino, Ph.D., is a writer, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. In 1989, John founded the gay and lesbian student group at St. John's University in N.Y., where he received his B.A. In 1992, while pursuing graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, he was asked to present a program during gay and lesbian awareness week. This was the beginning of "What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?", a lecture that he has since presented before hundreds of audiences nationwide and that was recently released as a DVD. John received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas in 1998 and was hired at Wayne State, where he is currently Associate Professor. John's column "The Gay Moralist" appears weekly at LOGO Online's 365gay.com, as well as at the Independent Gay Forum and various regional papers. His work on GLBT issues has appeared in dozens of books, scholarly journals, and popular periodicals. In addition to his lectures, he frequently travels the country debating marriage equality with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family. Currently he is working on a book, Debating Same-Sex Marriage, with Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage. This is John's second year at Camp, and he's very excited to be back.

Lisa A. Simmons, Assistant Director of Residence Life at Towson University has been in the field of Higher Education and Student Affairs for twenty years. She has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Master of Science in Student Personnel Administration from Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York. It was in her undergrad that her passion for leadership, social justice and working with students was born. She entered the field when she found out late in her senior year that she could major in being a leader on campus. Lisa has never lost her inner student leader and it drives her in her work today. In addition to her role on campus, Lisa served as the advisor of the Queer Student Union for eight years and co-chaired for the Committee of LGBT Issues. Prior to Towson, Lisa worked at SUNY Oswego in both Residence Life and Orientation. In December 2008, Lisa had the privilege of attending Social Justice Training Institute. Every day she tries to be the person she wanted to be when she flew home from SJTI and to find her role in Social Justice education and the world as she works to shed her well-intentioned white chick self. Lisa is thrilled to be a part of the Camp planning team for all four years. The magic that happens at camp is difficult to recreate (or explain) and she can’t wait to share it with each and every camper. She lives in Towson, Maryland with her amazing partner of nine years, Katie.

Vin Porfirio is acting Assistant Dean of Students and adjunct faculty at The Sage Colleges located in Albany and Troy, New York. He is also the co-advisor of the Gay Straight Alliance and a founding member of the Cultural Competency Committee on campus. Vin has also been a long time Leadership Board Member of the Academy for Character Education; an advisory board that spearheads positive role modeling and leadership skills throughout the State of New York. A graduate of the University at Albany and the Sage Graduate School, Vin has a Bachelor of Arts in English (with Honors), a Masters of Arts in English and Film, a Masters of Arts in Teaching, and a Masters of Science in Organization Management. A long time advocate of education and learning, Vin is pursuing an Educational Leadership degree (Ed.D.) from The Sage Colleges and a Film & Media Studies degree (Ph.D.) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In 2009 Vin was selected as a research fellow with the Harvard Center for International Development and spent two months in South Africa and Kenya looking at technology integration within educational settings. All that said, he is still an awful speller… A self proclaimed “horror movie buff,” Vin’s hobbies include watching films, screenwriting and blogging. He is also a long time athlete, having run Track-and-Field and Cross Country in high school, and played Lacrosse and Rugby at college. His future aspirations include becoming a college president, an ambassador to Italy, continue to travel the world and to one day marry Megan Mullally.

Marcia Purdy (aka Ma Purdy) graduated with a degree in Woman’s Studies and a Master’s in Higher Education. While getting her degrees, Ma worked at the Women’s Center, served on the LGBT Advisory Board, and was selected to serve on the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee. Her passion is working with multiple social identities and othering (developing a program based on the HBO series True Blood.) Ma is an officiant for same-sex marriages in the state of Iowa and performed the marriage ceremony for her cousin and his partner of 30 years. Ma Purdy is an ally that understands that life takes some interesting turns…although Ma has been working in the LGBT community for more than a decade, her son came out just a year ago…go figure!

Tai Sunnanon has spent his entire professional career in the education sector: first as founder at the age of 16 of an educational services organization for transient youth, to being a math high school teacher, then a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in The Republic of Palau, to supporting LGBTQ youth through GLAD, BAGLY (Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth), and The Trevor Project. This summer, he celebrates his 15th year being a mentor to LGBTQ youth. He is interested in shaping federal policy on all things queer-related and supporting both the LGBTQ community and their allies to be effective adaptive leaders. Tai is an active voice on campus. As a Political Science undergraduate at UCLA, he co-founded The Alliance, an LGBTQ advocacy group working to support on-campus issues and local politicians. As a master’s degree student at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, he co-facilitated the Queer Caucus and currently as a doctoral student at Harvard Graduate School of Education, he advises for the Harvard-wide LGBT Group. At heart, Tai is a dancer, guitarist, poet, and educator who aspires to be a college professor.

Vincent Paolo Villano is an Events Associate at Campus Progress, which is the youth organizing arm of the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. As an Events Associate, Vincent travels the country to bring speakers, trainers, and spoken word artists to students and young people that push progressive priorities on issues like health care access, immigration reform, college affordability, and LGBTQ rights. Prior to Campus Progress, Vincent worked at Renna Communications, a public interest communications firm that represents LGBTQ non-profits. Before becoming an adult, Vincent graduated from American University (AU) where he received his Bachelors degree in Political Science, with a minor in Education Studies, and a concentration in Flip Cup (not really. I suck at drinking games). Named a Ronald E. McNair Scholar for his research on social justice education, intergroup dialogues, and diversity, which is how he learned to enjoy the company of datasets. As a professional gay, Vincent coordinated the AU Rainbow Speakers' Bureau, a peer education program that recruited and trained students to talk about LGBT issues in classrooms and residence halls. His work pre- and post-adulthood was recognized by the Center for Progressive Leadership where he was honored as a New Leaders Fellow. He looks forward to being professionally gay once again as a first-time faculty member at Camp!

Rick Wolfe is the founder and CEO of We Care Child & Family Sevices and The Wolfe Family Foundation for Youth Advancement. We Care is the only open and affirming foster care agency in Kentucky with LBGTQ programming. Rick is a special adviser for the president of Kentucky Equality Federation. He has also been training foster parents and social workers in working with issues that LGBTQ children face on a daily basis. Rick is from Monterey, California. He received both his BSW and Masters from Cal State Chico! Rick is currently residing in Guthrie, Kentucky and is advocating for LGBT youth and the youth in foster care. This is Rick’s first year to be involved with Camp and he is excited to be here!