Occasionally there are reminders of days long past...days that have receded into the fog of my past. A name might pop up here or there...reminding me that we corresponded with each other once upon a long time ago...that one or both of us might have been exploring a new life...or at least the possibility of one. Our names might even have been different then.

So a story popped up in the news today. Jennifer Pritzker, a transgender woman and Chicago billionaire, donated $2 million from her Tawani Foundation to establish a chair of transgender studies at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. This is believed to be a first among research positions in the world's academic community.

Half of the money will support the chair position for five years, and the other half is pledged to match other donations to the program.

And I think to myself, "I used to know someone at that university...used to trade information back in the early to mid 90s when I was just sorting out how my life had managed to derail the way it had.

And lo! Connections happen.

Aaron Devor, a sociology professor who has studied transgender issues for three decades, was named inaugural chair.

I search my computer and discover some of those old emails, which remind me of Aaron's former given name. That's sort of embarrassing, actually. But when one is in academia, it is inevitable, I've found.

Far too many trans and gender-nonconforming people still live in poverty and fear. As the inaugural chair, I will act as a resource locally and internationally for those needing information for their own research or for policy development, as well as building linkages between community-based and academic scholars working in transgender studies.

--Devor

Devor also is the founder of the university's Transgender Archives, launched in 2012, which houses publications and memorabilia detailing the history and work of notable transgender and gender-nonconforming activists.

Huh! I wonder it any of my letters or essays from the past have found a home in there.

I have not to my knowledge ever been in contact with Pritzker, the retired Army lieutenant colonel whose foundation seeded the the Palm Center.

Much transgender research throughout North America has been supported through philanthropy. Some of the first pushes for exploring transgender issues came through funding and support from the Erickson Educational Foundation, according to Devor.

Reed Erickson, a transgender man, started the foundation in the early 1960s. Among other things, the organization sponsored the first symposiums of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, named for the doctor who worked with patients with gender dysphoria. That organization now is called the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

The chair in transgender studies sets (University of Victoria) apart. I am proud of our campus community's commitment to diversity, as well as grateful to Dr. Devor, Lt. Col. Pritzker, the Tawani Foundation and all those who help us continually learn and grow in a welcoming environment that promotes the rights and affirms the dignity of all persons.

--university President Jamie Cassels

Devor is a UVic sociology professor and former dean of UVic's faculty of graduate studies. He has been working in transgender studies over the past 30 years, is an elected member of the International Academy of Sex Research, and is also an elected Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.