Dr. Melissa R. Michelson (PhD Yale University) is Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Menlo College. She is a founding Executive Committee member of WomenAlsoKnowStuff and past president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) Latino Caucus and of the APSA LGBT Caucus. Dr. Michelson is a nationally recognized expert in Latinx voter mobilization and LGBTQ politics. She is the award-winning co-author of seven books, including Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns (2012), which received the 2013 APSA Ralph Bunche award, and, most recently, LGBTQ Life in America (2021). Dr. Michelson’s current projects include ongoing research on how best to motivate students to vote, how drag performers can increase voter turnout, how to reduce prejudice against members of the LGBTQ community, as well as another co-authored book manuscript tentatively titled, Party at the Mailbox: Mobilizing Black Turnout with Celebrations of Community, under contract with New York University Press. In her spare time, she runs with her dog, paddleboards in the Pacific, and relaxes with her husband and four sons.