Sears began his career in higher education at
Trinity University, in 1983, and then was appointed assistant professor at The University of South Carolina and was promoted to full professor in 1991. During his 20-year career at USC, Sears pursued twin writing tracks in sexuality education and LGBT studies establishing himself as "one of the preeminent scholars of southern gay culture" In addition to organizing for LGBT rights on and off campus, Sears was the founding editor of two LGBT journals—Empathy (1988–1994) and the Journal of LGBT Youth (2003–present). He was also an early gay activist locally, co-founding the South Carolina Business Guild and giving a major gay rights speech on the steps of the capitol in 1993. Sears was a visiting a visiting researcher at the
University of Southern California,[1] a visiting research fellow at the
University of Queensland, a Research Lecturer at Brazil's
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, and a Fulbright Southeast Asian Scholar. ==Selected works==