Mary Foltz is Associate Professor of English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Lehigh University and participating scholar in the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archives in Allentown, PA. Foltz also currently co-directs South Side Initiative at Lehigh University where she fosters public humanities projects that increase democratic and civic engagement. Her public humanities projects include exhibits on regional LGBTQIA+ history, multiple regional oral history projects focused on marginalized communities, multiple public-facing literary programs, the development of a community-based news site focused on local arts and culture, and facilitation of environmental working groups to address civic infrastructure and to improve habitats for declining species.