College of Arts & Letters Student Named to Statewide Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force

Alex Guo, a third-year undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, is among 23 students chosen from nearly 100 applicants from across the state to serve on the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force, which will develop and implement recommendations to improve voter education and engagement among young people on college and university campuses in Michigan.

Alex Guo speaks into a microphone during a session at the Creating Change Conference, wearing a presenter badge and conference lanyard. She gestures with one hand as she addresses attendees, standing against a dark backdrop. — Alex Guo presenting at the 2026 Creating Change Conference in Washington, D.C. *(Photo courtesy of Creating Change Conference/National LGBTQ Task Force)*

Guo is double majoring in Humanities-Prelaw and Experience Architecture and has minors in Business and Leadership in Integrated Learning. She will serve on the task force through December 2026.

Established by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in 2019, the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force is a nonpartisan initiative of the Michigan Department of State (MDOS) in partnership with Campus Vote Project, a project of the Fair Elections Center, a national, nonpartisan voting rights organization.

The task force brings together students from across the state who are passionate about civic engagement. Task force members serve as liaisons between MDOS, their student body, school administrators, and peers. The group will advise on the unique experiences and barriers for student voters, helping to ensure the voices of young people are heard in our state’s elections.

“As a queer person, being appointed by the Secretary of State is an honor and a responsibility,” Guo said. “I hope to use this role to advocate for inclusive, accessible civic engagement that reflects the diverse realities of students across Michigan.”

“As a queer person, being appointed by the Secretary of State is an honor and a responsibility. I hope to use this role to advocate for inclusive, accessible civic engagement that reflects the diverse realities of students across Michigan.”

Joining Guo on the task force is Anabelle Sanchez, a third-year undergraduate student at MSU who is double majoring in James Madison College and Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy and Public Policy in the College of Social Science.

This marks the fourth iteration of the Michigan Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force. In 2024, the college task force members originated the idea of the state’s first “I Voted” sticker design contest, which received national attention and hundreds of submissions from artists throughout Michigan.

Alex Guo presents on stage at Ignite Talks MSU before a seated audience. Behind her, a large projected word cloud highlights terms related to gender, identity, and community. — Alex Guo at the Fall 2025 Ignite Talks presenting her research project that examines how writing, rhetoric, and design can be used to create spaces that affirm and uplift transgender individuals. *(Photo by Aaron Word, courtesy of the MSU Museum)*

In addition to serving on the task force, Guo recently began an internship with Teach Access, a nonprofit organization that bridges the accessibility skills gap between education and industry, providing free programs and resources to help students and educators learn the fundamentals of disability and accessibility.

As a Teach Access Intern, Guo focuses on digital accessibility, disability justice, and inclusive user experience design, with particular attention to how design decisions intersect with law, public policy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks.

“Being an Experience Architecture student means committing to making the world more accessible through thoughtful design. I’m honored to bring that mindset and training into my work with Teach Access, where accessibility and inclusion are not afterthoughts, but core values.”

“Being an Experience Architecture student means committing to making the world more accessible through thoughtful design,” Guo said. “I’m honored to bring that mindset and training into my work with Teach Access, where accessibility and inclusion are not afterthoughts, but core values.”

Alex Guo presents at the 2026 Creating Change Conference in Washington, D.C., holding a microphone while standing beside a projected slide that includes protest imagery related to gender and transgender health care. — Alex Guo presenting at the 2026 Creating Change Conference in Washington, D.C., as part of the session titled “Voices for Religious and Queer Freedom: How We’re Fighting Christian Nationalism—and How You Can Too.” *(Photo courtesy of Creating Change Conference/National LGBTQ Task Force)*

Guo also currently serves as an Outreach Assistant for the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center and holds multiple student leadership roles dedicated to equity and accessibility across campus. As an openly trans Asian woman and LGBTQ+ researcher, she has delivered guest lectures and research talks on queer belonging, accessibility, and inclusive design in higher education.

During the Fall 2025 Semester, Guo presented her undergraduate research project, “Beyond Rhetoric: Building Trans-Affirming Communities,” at the Ignite Talks MSU held on Oct. 29, 2025, and hosted by the MSU Museum CoLab Studio. Inspired by both her lived experience as a trans student and her ongoing work as an LGBTQ+ advocate on campus, Guo’s research project examines how writing, rhetoric, and design can be used to create spaces that affirm and uplift transgender individuals.

Alex Guo stands on stage at Ignite Talks MSU, speaking into a handheld microphone while gesturing with her left hand. She wears a sleeveless black dress and faces the audience, with an Ignite Talks banner visible behind her. — Alex Guo presenting her undergraduate research project, “Beyond Rhetoric: Building Trans-Affirming Communities,” at the Ignite Talks MSU. *(Photo by Aaron Word, courtesy of the MSU Museum)*

And just this month, Guo was in Washington, D.C., where she attended and presented at the Creating Change Conference, which is the annual five-day political, leadership, and skills-building gathering for the LGBTQ+ movement and its allies, organized by the National LGBTQ Task Force. Established in 1988, the event brings together thousands of activists, organizers, and leaders for workshops, training, and community building to advance LGBTQ+ liberation.

Representing Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the session Guo helped present, titled “Voices for Religious and Queer Freedom: How We’re Fighting Christian Nationalism—and How You Can Too,” explored the intersection of religious freedom and LGBTQ+ equality, and shared concrete ways to push back against white Christian nationalism while building a more inclusive future for all.

Guo plans to graduate from MSU in Spring 2027 and would like to go to law school to become a prosecutor so she can “focus on making our criminal justice system more equitable.”

By Kim Popiolek