LGBT and HIV Scholarship
The Staley & Hussey Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement in Promoting LGBTQ+ Equality and/or HIV Prevention
Thanks to a generous gift from Matthew Staley, an MPH alumnus of the SJSU MPH Program, a $1,000 scholarship award has been established to honor an MPH student who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in promoting LGBTQ+ Equality and/or HIV Prevention. Matthew Staley, a SJSU MPH Class of 2000 Graduate, dedicated many years of his personal and professional life to HIV Prevention at the local, state, and national level before being forced into early retirement due to complications from the disease he worked with others to prevent. Quin Hussey (formally Wendy Hussey), a SJSU MPH Class of 2001 Graduate, was instrumental in helping to establish an annual Diversity Event previously held on SJSU's campus. This event was one of many lifelong achievements in promoting LGBTQ+ equality.
Application and supporting documents are due at the time of application for admission into the MPH program.
Awards will be announced after a students acceptance of the MPH program.
Recent Awardees
Amber Parker (Fall 2022)
Hi there! My name is Amber Parker and I feel so honored to be the recipient of this year's Staley & Hussey Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement in Promoting LGBTQ+ Equality and/or HIV Prevention.
I’ve been a health educator for the past 9 years and started my journey at the Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center in Santa Cruz. As a youth advocacy intern, I co-facilitated a middle school sexual health program called “I Decide” and spent my afternoons busting myths, role-playing consent, and doing plenty of condom and dental dam demos. My students were extremely bright, inquisitive, and hilarious - my passion grew and I knew I wanted to continue health education.
I joined Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s education team in 2015 where I taught hundreds of sex ed classes in Santa Cruz, King City and everywhere in between. In addition to my work inside the classroom, I also aided in the creation of an 8-hour sexual health curriculum compliant with the California Healthy Youth Act, which has been used in schools across Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara County. This curriculum overhaul transformed our basic prevention lessons to include gender, sexuality, healthy relationships, human trafficking, and more.
Currently, I serve students at UC Santa Cruz by offering free, non-judgmental sexual health support at the Student Health Outreach and Promotion office. I support students with HIV/STI testing and treatment, PrEP and PEP, contraception, pregnancy options counseling, and sex/sexuality questions. I really love my role and the students I work with!
As a queer health educator, serving others in my community (especially youth) has been so tremendously meaningful and rewarding. This scholarship will help me further my education and serve the community in bigger and better ways in the future, so I receive it with much gratitude.
