About Matrix

What We Do

Founded in 2005 at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, the Matrix Center sponsors a wide range of extra-curricular programming, workshops, film series, visiting speakers, student scholarships, and community outreach programming, including K-12. Today, the Matrix Center has gained a national reputation as a leader in the study of privilege and oppression from an intersectional perspective.

Our current focal programs include the annual Knapsack Institute conference, grants-giving toward groups and events that align with our values, personalized workshops for educators and workplaces, and our graduate certificate in diversity, social justice, and inclusion.

Our Principles

UCCS Library

The intersectional perspective examines how gender, race/ethnicity, and sexuality interact with each other and with other dimensions of privilege, oppression, and inequality.

At the Matrix Center, we operate on the premise that an inclusive and equitable community will improve life and benefit all people. Our work has been recognized by grant funding through the Gay and Lesbian Fund, the University of Colorado President's Diversity Award in 2008, and the Diversity Forum's Champion of Diversity and Inclusion "Daring to Dream" Award in 2010.

Building Relationships

The Center has built and fostered working relationships with many universities as well as organizations, both local and national, whose work is consistent with our mission:

  • American Association of University Women
  • Anti-Defamation League
  • Citizen's Project
  • Colorado Unity
  • Everyday Democracy
  • Facing History & Ourselves
  • Inside Out Youth Services
  • Gill Foundation
  • Global Livingston Institute
  • Greenberg Center for Learning & Tolerance
  • NAACP-Colorado Springs Branch
  • Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival
  • Smart-Girl
  • The Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado
  • The Women's Resource Agency
  • United to End Racism
  • United States Air Force Academy
  • Colorado Springs Diversity Forum
  • Colorado Springs Children's Chorale
  • Colorado Springs Youth Symphony