Robin Fretwell Wilson is the Director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs (“IGPA”) for the University of Illinois System, of which the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a part, as well the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law. Professor Wilson is the author and editor of twenty books, including her recent books, International Survey Of Family Law 2022 with the University of Minnesota Professor June Carbone and Religious Freedom, LGBT Rights, and the Prospects for Common Ground with Yale University Professor William Eskridge, Jr.

Professor Wilson has ranked among the Top Ten Family Law Scholars in the United States for scholarly impact in each ranking done by the Leiter Report since 2010; co-directs the College of Law’s Epstein Health Law & Policy Program and co-directs and founded its Family Law & Policy Program. Professor Wilson also founded and directs the Tolerance Means Dialogues and the Fairness for All Initiative, both of which are made possible with private philanthropic support. Professor Wilson has led law-reform projects on same-sex marriage and gay rights, resulting in landmark legislation.

Professor Wilson chairs IGPA’s Substance Abuse Disorder Working Group s and is a founding member of the genomic security and privacy theme of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She holds appointments with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Urbana-Champaign. A member of the American Law Institute, Professor Wilson has thrice been honored for her work with lawmakers on innovative laws that address thorny questions, such as how to mesh LGBT rights with protections for religious belief and practice.

In 2022, Professor Wilson assisted Congress in its consideration and passage of P.L. 117-228, the Respect for Marriage Act. Members of the U.S. Senate acknowledged her co-authored analysis of the bill by name in the Congressional Register and she was invited to attend the White House signing ceremony.

Professor Pea is Co-Director of the Family Law and Policy Program at the University of Illinois and a 1997 summa cum laude graduate of the College of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review. She has taught Legal Writing & Analysis, Introduction to Advocacy, Family Law, Decedents’ Estates & Trusts, Evidence, Remedies, Sexual Orientation & Law, and Advanced Torts, as well as seminars on Religion & Law and Judicial Opinion Writing. She was an inaugural member of the Illinois Judicial College Committee on Judicial Branch Staff Education, helping to develop the curriculum for judicial law clerks and other professional staff. In addition, she served as senior law clerk to Justice Rita B. Garman of the Illinois Supreme Court for eighteen years.

Yulanda Curtis joined the University of Illinois College of Law in 2018 to develop a new Veterans Legal Clinic, which provides free civil legal assistance to veterans and their family members. Before joining the University of Illinois, Professor Curtis taught at the University of Michigan Veterans Legal Clinic as a clinical fellow. She participated in the founding and policy formation of the University of Michigan’s Veterans Legal Clinic and served as a member of the Michigan Women Veterans Advisory Board since its inception. In addition to her academic career, Professor Curtis has worked on issues involving administrative law and disability benefits. She worked as an Associate Counsel for the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board). During her tenure at the Board, Professor Curtis presented ideas to senior government officials regarding the need for improved consistency in employee training across the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dean Margareth Etienne, the Carl L. Vacketta Professor of Law, is the inaugural associate dean for graduate and international programs, where she oversees the College of Law’s JSD, LLM, and MSL programs. Professor Etienne has taught courses in Children and the Law, Juvenile Law, Education Law as well as Criminal Law and Sentencing.

Her research focuses on legal decision-making and ethics in institutions ranging from criminal courts to schools and families. In 2004, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to conduct judicial training on white-collar crime in Senegal. Professor Etienne received her bachelor’s degree in history with honors from Yale University, and also earned her law degree from Yale Law School.

Richard L. Kaplan is the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois and is an internationally recognized authority on U.S. tax law and policy. In 1992, Professor Kaplan developed one of the first law school courses on elder law, which encompasses Social Security, pension benefits, Medicare, long-term care, and end-of-life issues. He is the co-author of Elder Law in a Nutshell and has served as faculty advisor for the Elder Law Journal since its inception. Professor Kaplan is a research fellow of the Employee Benefits Research Institute and an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Robin Kar is a Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Illinois College of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar of contract law, philosophy of law, moral and legal philosophy, and the evolution of legal systems and complex social structure (including modern markets). He draws on methods that include not only traditional legal studies but also philosophy, psychology, evolutionary theory, game theory, economics, neuroscience, anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and comparative cultural and legal studies. These methods inform his research into what law is and how it functions in people’s lives. Recently, Professor Kar has been exploring the nature of marriage and family obligations, using theological and other historical texts.

Colleen Murphy is a Professor in the College of Law and the Departments of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Director of the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program in Illinois International Programs, and Affiliate Faculty of the Beckman Institute. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, and the Journal of Moral Philosophy. She has also served on the Gender Equity Council (2013-2017) and the #MeToo Critical Conversation Exploratory Committee (2018-2019) at the University of Illinois. 

Lesley Wexler is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Professor of Law. She has broad research interests in international humanitarian law, human rights law, and sex discrimination. She specializes in those legal areas that reflect the movement of anti-discrimination and humanitarian norms through domestic law, international law, social movements, and corporations. She has written on the legitimacy of targeting decisions, the blood diamond trade, and the regulation of depleted uranium and landmines, along with a series of articles on human rights impact statements. Her work has drawn on case studies using DeBeers, Wal-Mart, and Chik-fil-A.

Lauren R. Aronson joined the University of Illinois College of Law faculty in fall 2019 to teach direct the Immigration Law Clinic. Prior to joining the Illinois faculty, she taught and directed the Immigration Law Clinic and an Interviewing and Counseling simulation course at LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She completed a Teaching Fellowship at Michigan State University College of Law, where she taught in the Immigration Law Clinic, and taught a Refugee and Asylum Law seminar which explored the contours of the international refugee definition, compared related forms of protection, and examined U.S. asylum procedure.

Phyllis Baker is the Special Assistant to the President of the University of Illinois System, Prior to joining the Office of the President of the University of Illinois System, Phyllis was a Teaching Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is professor emeritus from the University of Northern Iowa where she held positions of Department Head of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies, and Associate Dean in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Phyllis received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego.

Jennifer Hardesty is a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois. Through her work, she focuses on advancing the understanding of intimate partner violence, separation/divorce, and parenting after separation. Through studying how different types of violence during marriage relate to different co-parenting experiences and health outcomes after separation, she will be able to inform prevention and intervention efforts with divorcing parents.

Ruby Mendenhall is an Associate Professor in Sociology, African American Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, and Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also an affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Art, and Social Sciences. Her research focuses on issues of social inequality over the life course and the role of public policy and individuals’ agency in facilitating social and economic mobility.

Brian Ogolsky is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois. He focuses his research on how relational partners maintain healthy romantic relationships across the life course. His work has the potential to inform practitioners and promote policy initiatives designed to enhance family dynamics.