Katie Batza

Before joining the University of Kansas department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in 2014 as their first 100% hired appointment, Katie Batza (uses any pronoun) was at Macalester College in St. Paul and Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Their research explores the intersection of sexuality, health and politics in the late 20th-century United States. She has several research projects that are recently finished, in the publication pipeline or final revisions: a walking tour and podcast project on reproductive justice in Boston, a cross-disciplinary analysis of access to healthcare for gender non-conforming and disabled individuals, and a book project that explores the early AIDS crisis in the Heartland. Batza’s first book, Before AIDS, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in February 2018 and explores gay health activism in the period before AIDS. She also has published on the history of lesbians and the fertility industry, mapping queer health history and neoliberalism. They played an active role in the National Park Service’s LGBTQ initiative, contributing a chapter to the National Park Service's LGBTQ theme study and co-founding a nonprofit, Rainbow Heritage Network, that aids in identifying, preserving and interpreting historic sites of particular meaning to the LGBTQ communities. She employs a wide array of research methods in her work, including oral history, archival research and qualitative methods. Batza is also committed to working with community partners and working across disciplinary boundaries around important issues which propelled her to co-found, along with Dr. Nicole Reiz, the Big Ideas Incubator at KU that has coordinated teams of faculty, students and community members to address issues of local food access and insecurity since 2019. Due to the wide array of research projects and interests, Batza’s work has been funded by numerous organizations including Point Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, a Mellon-Schlesinger fellowship from Harvard University and numerous internal grants.



Starting in July 2023, Batza became chair of the WGSS department. After years of service as both the director of undergraduate studies and the director of graduate studies, Batza is excited to take this leadership role and hopes to continue the tremendous growth and strong community the department has enjoyed for more than a decade. In addition to this new leadership role, Batza’s research continues to evolve to be increasingly interdisciplinary and forward-facing. She will continue her interdisciplinary research partnerships that include a rainbow of academics and community partners from medical doctors in Boston, architects and environmental scientists in Lawrence and nonprofits in Lawrence, St. Louis, Topeka and Washington, D.C. Additionally, Batza’s research focus will shift slightly within the intersection of health, sexuality and politics. While the first two monographs examined the creation of health care and political activism amidst ostracism from or absence of mainstream medicine in the periods before and during HIV/AIDS, the next book will explore the role of food in creating queer communities, politics and health.



Batza loves being in the classroom and trying innovative things there. She is an Honors Faculty Fellow, has won several grants for course design and enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. Please check the course offerings for upcoming semesters.