The University of Alabama at Birmingham recently conducted a conference designed to help their counseling and health staff better address the needs of transgender students.
The two-day event last week is part of a national trend of college officials introducing new policies and programs to better include and serve their transgender students, as issues specific to their community are gaining broader attention.
UAB's program was focused on social and medical support. Jacob Baggott, the director of Student Health and Wellness at UAB, says some of the guidelines discussed were as simple as always referring to transgender students by their preferred name and pronoun.
The conference also focused on hormone therapy. The university doesn't currently offer hormone therapy for students, but officials are considering starting.