FIU’s list of same-sex marriage and civil rights experts

Florida International University has a number of professors who study constitutional law, same-sex issues, and judicial and LGBTQA politics. This is a list of experts willing to offer their insight to the media and the public. This list will be updated as new information becomes available.

For assistance reaching any of these professors, please call the FIU Office of Media Relations at 305-348-2232.

Legal/Civil Rights

José M. Gabilondo, J.D.
Professor of law
Professor Gabilondo’s gender research focuses on how anti-gay laws and legal institutions have helped form heterosexual identity, especially with respect to marriage and sexuality. His work in this area has appeared in the Wake Forest Law Review, the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender, and Society, and the Boston College Journal of Law and Social Justice. His work on heterosexual identity has been used in diversity training for the Florida court system.  Gabilondo is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-348-5943
Email: jose.gabilondo@fiu.edu​

Howard M. Wasserman, J.D.
Professor of law
Professor Wasserman teaches civil procedure, evidence, federal courts, civil rights, and First Amendment at the FIU College of Law. His scholarship focuses on freedom of speech and on the role of procedure and jurisdiction in public law and civil rights litigation. He can speak both to the constitutional and jurisdictional issues.
Office: 305-348-7482
Cell: 786-417-2433
Email: howard.wasserman@fiu.edu

Kerri Stone, J.D.
Associate Professor of law
Professor Stone teaches employment discrimination, employment law, labor law, and contracts at the FIU College of Law. Her research focuses on examining anti-discrimination jurisprudence. Areas of expertise include: employment discrimination, disability discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual stereotyping, women and minorities in the workplace, and workplace bullying.
Office: 305-348-1154
Email: Kerri.Stone@fiu.edu

Gender Studies/Philosophy

Laurie J. Shrage, Ph.D.
Professor of philosophy and women’s and gender studies
Professor Shrage’s research and areas of expertise include moral and political philosophy, feminist theory and American philosophy. Shrage, who previously served as director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, currently teaches a course on LGBTQ issues. She was a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at Princeton’s University Center for Human Values during 2011-12, where she wrote several papers about the regulation and promotion of marriage by the state, including, “Reforming Marriage: A Comparative Approach,” Journal of Applied Philosophy (2013) and “Polygamy, Privacy, and Equality” (forthcoming in After Marriage, Oxford UP 2015). Shrage is the author of Abortion and Social Responsibility: Depolarizing the Debate, (Oxford UP 2003), and Moral Dilemmas of Feminism: Adultery, Prostitution, and Abortion (Routledge 1994).  She edited You’ve Changed: Sex Reassignment and Personal Identity (Oxford UP 2009), and recently co-authored Philosophizing About Sex (Broadview 2015).
Office: 305-348-6797
Cell: 786-657-4506
E-mail: lshrage@fiu.edu

Gender Studies/Psychology

Asia A. Eaton, Ph.D.
Assistant professor of psychology
Professor Eaton’s research explores the relationship between social power and gender in the U.S. and the implications of enacting powerful roles and gender roles for individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. Her areas of expertise include social power and attitude strength, leadership and gender, and dating and gender. She has published articles on women and gender issues for several publications including American Psychologist and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Currently, Eaton is director of the Power, Women and Relationships Lab at Florida International University.
Office: 305-348-0229
Email: aeaton@fiu.edu

Suzanna M. Rose, Ph.D.
Director of the School of Integrated Science and Humanity​
Professor Rose’s research and areas of expertise include romantic relationships, sexuality, and friendship; sexual orientation, bias crimes and domestic violence; women’s career development, gender roles, international issues in women’s studies and other areas related to women and gender. She has published articles and chapters on women and gender issues for several publications including the Journal of Lesbian Studies, American Psychologist, and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Rose was director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies from 2000 to 2007.
Office: 305-348-1975
Email: srose@fiu.edu​

Public Health

Mark Williams, Ph.D.
Acting Dean of the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
Dean Williams has conducted research in the areas of behavioral epidemiology, disease prevention, and health promotion in underserved and minority populations for more than 20 years. Among other topics, he has paid significant attention to the impact of health policies on minority populations, including the LGBT population. He is an expert on the topic and can discuss current policy decisions as they relate to LGBT people in South Florida, in the U.S., and internationally.
Office: 305-348-3434
Email: mlwillia@fiu.edu

Political Science/International Relations

Rebecca Mae Salokar, Ph.D., J.D.
Chairperson of the Department of Politics and International Relations
Salokar’s areas of expertise include judicial politics; constitutional law and politics; gender and law; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) politics. Her teaching interests center on law and courts while her research interests bridge the disciplines of law and political science. Salokar’s publications typically focus on issues related to the separation of powers both at the national and state levels. Most recently, her research has been in the area of gay and lesbian families and the law, and she has worked on cases involving same-sex adoptions in Florida.
Phone: 305-348-2227
Email: salokar@fiu.edu 

Religious Studies

Whitney Bauman, Ph.D.
Assistant professor of religious studies
Bauman’s teaching and research interests lie predominantly in religion and ecology, exploring topics such as globalization, feminism, environmental justice and green practices. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at FIU, including religion and queer theory, technology and human values, religion and science, and environmental ethics.  Bauman can discuss the history of same sex relationships and marriage from within the Christian religion. He can also discuss the Bible passages that are often cited in conversations about homosexuality. Bauman earned a Ph.D. in theology and religious studies from the Graduate Theological Union and a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Phone: 510-333-6426
Email: wbauman@fiu.edu