Michael D. Shutt, Lambda Legal, Atlanta. (Courtesy photo)

Lambda Legal has named Michael Shutt, the senior director of campus life at Emory University, as the new director for its Southern regional office in Atlanta.

The national legal nonprofit undertakes impact litigation and public policy work to further its mission of "full recognition of the rights of LGBTQ Americans (and those living with HIV)."

Shutt said in a Nov. 21 announcement that he will further Lambda Legal's work "defending the civil rights for LGBTQ people nationwide," and "at a time where those rights, some only recently secured, and our very existence are under sustained and repeated attack."

He added that he will work with Lambda Legal's small Atlanta staff to "continue fighting for LGBTQ rights in the courts and in statehouses across the South to preserve our progress and ensure equality and justice throughout the region."

According to Lambda Legal's interim CEO, Richard Burns, the LGBTQ community in the South "faces particular challenges, particularly transgender people and people of color. Michael brings to that struggle a wealth of knowledge and an extensive track record of leadership and accomplishment."

As Southern regional director for Lambda Legal, Shutt will oversee its programming and outreach efforts for 10 states: Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia.

Shutt is a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community who has 20 years of experience leading student affairs organizations for Emory and the University of Georgia.

He was the first director for the LGBT resource center at UGA and then joined Emory in 2008 to serve as director of the Office of LGBT Life and assistant dean for Campus Life. He went on to become interim director of Emory's Center for Diversity and Inclusion when it launched in 2014 and then in 2016 became the university's senior director for community.

The Atlanta Pride Committee chose Shutt to serve as a parade grand marshal for its 2014 Pride Celebration to recognize his work as an LGTBQ advocate. "Michael has helped future generations of LGBTQ individuals find their voice and prepare themselves for the future," said Atlanta Pride's executive director Buck Cooke at the time, according to a 2014 Emory news article.

In addition to his work at Emory and UGA, Shutt has served as a consultant for Spelman College, Georgia Tech, New York University and Princeton University in assessing and developing their LGBT support services.

Shutt, who earned a Ph.D. in student affairs administration from UGA in 2006, also has been an adjunct professor there for the past 12 years, teaching graduate courses through UGA's Counseling and Human Development Services department, including one on LGBT Support Services in Higher Education.

In the community, Shutt chairs the Equality Foundation of Georgia's board of directors and is an advisory board member of the LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.