Department of Educational Leadership & Policy

Dr. Chris Linder (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Utah, where her scholarship focuses on sexual violence and student activism.  Chris regularly teaches courses on diversity, equity, and inclusion; student development theory; foundations of higher education and student affairs; and qualitative research through a power-conscious, historical lens.  Chris identifies as a queer, white cisgender woman from a working-class background who strives to interrupt power and dominance in her work as an educator and activist. Prior to becoming faculty, Chris worked as a student affairs educator and administrator for 10 years, spending the majority of her career as a director of a campus-based women’s center supporting survivors of sexual violence.  Chris earned a PhD in Higher Education and Student Affairs Leadership from the University of Northern Colorado.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Student Affairs from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a first-generation college student. 

Chris’s new book, Sexual Violence on Campus: Power-Conscious Approaches to Awareness, Prevention, and Response (Emerald Press), was published in May 2018.  Additionally, in partnership with Dr. Jessica C. Harris (UCLA), Chris co-edited Intersections of Identity and Sexual Violence on Campus (Stylus, 2017).  Chris is also co-editor of the 2^nd Edition of Multiculturalism on Campus (Stylus, 2017), and has published work on student activism, white women’s anti-racist identity development, and racism in graduate preparation programs in a variety of journals in higher education and student affairs.  Chris serves on the editorial board for the Journal of College Student Development and the NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education.