Posted on June 30, 2021 · Posted in Roosevelt House General News

Erin Mayo-Adam, an assistant professor of political science and a respected scholar of LGBTQ legal rights, will be the new Director of the Hunter College LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House, it was announced today by Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab.

The LGBTQ Center, founded in 2008, works within the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute to conduct research, create and lead public programs, and explore and generate policy initiatives and ideas. The Center builds bridges between researchers and government policy-makers, and encourages student and faculty engagement to advance the rights of LGBTQ individuals and communities. It also builds curriculum on LGBTQ issues, engages with LGBTQ student groups, and helps arrange student internships in the government and non-profit sectors. At Roosevelt House, the Center reports to the Jonathan F. Fanton Director, Harold Holzer.

Dr. Mayo-Adam is the author of the book Queer Alliances: How Power Shapes Political Movement Formation, published last year by Stanford University Press. She has also written extensively on LGBTQ family law, LGBTQ immigration, and anti-discrimination policy-making. Mayo-Adam holds a Ph.D. in political science as well as a law degree from the University of Washington.

“As we conclude Pride Month and plan the fall semester at Hunter, we eagerly anticipate the LGBTQ Policy Center’s next chapter under Erin Mayo-Adam’s insightful and energetic leadership,” commented President Raab. “Erin is a rising star in our political science department, an accomplished scholar and writer, and a charismatic teacher with deep ties to Roosevelt House. Already working at the epicenter of legal and policy work on LGBTQ issues, locally and nationally, she has taught an LGBTQ course at the House, serves on the Roosevelt House Human Rights faculty, and recently joined its Public Policy Program Faculty and Curriculum Committee. We know she will bring substance and vitality to the LGBT Center.

“Needless to say, Erin fully reflects our school’s historic commitment to caring for the future. And she epitomizes the Roosevelt House focus on informing public policy and advancing human rights for all, as exemplified by our landmark building’s onetime residents and our guiding spirits, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. We are absolutely delighted to welcome Erin to this leadership role in the LGBTQ program.”

President Raab expressed special thanks to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson—and the entire Councilfor their support for the LGBTQ Center at Hunter College. “Their confidence has helped this institute thrive,” she commented, “and we are grateful for their generosity.”

Commented Prof. Mayo-Adam: “I am thrilled to become the new Director of the Hunter College LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House. I hope to help the center grow by bringing in engaging public events, developing more internship and curricular opportunities for students, and building a research program that can serve as a resource for legislators seeking to advance LGBTQ policy across the state of New York. I am especially delighted to take up this position at Hunter, an institution committed to intersectional difference that has helped foster some of the most prominent LGBTQ intellectuals in the world, including Hunter College alum Audre Lorde.”

Before joining the Hunter College faculty in 2017, Mayo-Adam was a graduate student teaching assistant, then a lecturer, at the University of Washington. She also served as a case manager and special project manager at JusticeCorps (a division of AmericaCorps) at the Los Angeles Superior Court; as a clerk on the Columbia Legal Services’ Working Families Project in Seattle, and as a clerk with the children and youth advocacy initiative at the University of Washington Law School.

Since 2019, she has served on the LGBT Status Committee of the American Political Science Association, and on the Gender and Sexual Minorities Status Committee of the Midwest Political Sconce Association. In 2018, she earned the Kenneth Sherrill Best Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association—named for one of Hunter’s most distinguished and beloved professors emeritus. She is currently at work on a coauthored volume, Teaching LGBTQ Politics.

At Roosevelt House, Mayo-Adam has already organized and moderated public programs presenting candidates for both citywide and local office, featuring student-led discussions of LGBTQ+ issues.