Dr. Kristopher Wells, known to many in the community as Kris Wells, is a born and raised Edmontonian.  Like many, he started out as a closeted student and, after graduating from the Faculty of Education in 1994, went on teach high-school.  He would visit the Roost (a popular LGBT hangout at the time) and became aware that one of the students he taught would sometimes be at club.  Both closeted, neither of them had the courage to discuss this with the other.

In 1999, Kris found out this student had committed suicide, and was alarmed at how he perceived the school to sweep the incident under the rug.  So he questioned what kind of teacher he was if he couldn’t help a student in need, especially when he had been in a similar place growing up.

He branched out and found the newly formed Youth Understanding Youth group, and in 2000 went back to do his Master’s degree with the strategic goal of creating positive change for LGBT youth in schools.  One ingenious project that Kris and his supervisor at the U of A started in 2004 was Camp fYrefly - a youth leadership camp that simultaneously put their research into practice, while allowing them to further study the experiences of teachers and students.  This is just one of many social change projects that Kris has been involved in over the past 14 years.

Currently 43 years old, Kris has obtained his Ph.D. but continues working in a permanent position at the University of Alberta as the Director of Programs and Services at the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services.  He jokingly tells his students that he is in "grade 26".