People

Pastor Schmeling is a Lutheran minister who is openly gay. He is in danger of being stripped of his Ordination by the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

**Brandi Collins-Dexter** is a fall 2019 Joan Shorenstein Fellow and the Senior Campaign Director at Color Of Change, where she oversees the media, culture and economic justice team. She has led a number of successful and highly visible campaigns for corporate and government accountability and has also worked extensively with Silicon Valley companies on key corporate policy changes. Collins-Dexter has testified in front of congress on the issue of online privacy, and is a regular commentator in the media on racial justice and tech. While at the Shorenstein Center, Collins-Dexter will write a paper on the digital ecosystem and how it has forever altered the political, economic, sociological and psychological ways in which we engage offline.

Blaze is a hip-hop artist, activist, self-proclaimed trap feminist. Inspired by Lil' Kim and Missy Elliot, her raw lyrics and dynamic stage presence allows her to compete with the boys and rep for the ladies. Blaze aims to celebrate people that identify as women and femmes through the language of hip-hop. Connect with her on Twitter with @brandieblaze.

Born and raised in Echo Park, California, Brando Skyhorse is a graduate of Stanford University and the MFA Writers’ Workshop program at UC Irvine. For the past ten years he has worked in New York as a book editor at *Grove Press* and elsewhere. His debut novel, *The Madonnas of Echo Park*, chronicles the “American-born immigrant” experience. Peter Matthiessen calls *The Madonnas of Echo Park* “altogether a terrific book by a highly accomplished new author” while Daniel Chaon says of Skyhorse, “[he] writes with great compassion and wit (and a touch of magic)… *The Madonnas of Echo Park* is a memorable literary debut.” His next book, Things *My Fathers Taught Me*, forthcoming from *Free Press*, is a memoir about growing up with five stepfathers, four of whom were con men.

Brandon Sanderson began writing in earnest, taking a job as the night desk clerk at a hotel because they allowed him to write while at work. During this era, he went to school full-time during the day, worked nights to pay for his schooling, and wrote as much as he could. He says it made for a rather dismal social life, but he finished seven novels during his undergraduate years. He submitted many manuscripts for publication and accumulated quite a pile of rejection letters. In spite of this, he continued to be a dedicated writer. In 2004 after graduating with his master's degree in creative writing from Brigham Young University, he was asked to teach the class he had taken as an undergraduate student from Dave Farland. In spite of his busy schedule, he continues to teach this one section of creative writing focused on science fiction and fantasy, because he enjoys helping aspiring writers. In December of 2007 Brandon was chosen by Harriet Rigney to complete *A Memory of Light*, book twelve in Robert Jordan's *Wheel of Time* series. Brandon is now hard at work on this epic project.

Brandon M. Terry is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Social Studies at Harvard University. He earned a PhD with university distinction in Political Science and African American Studies from Yale University, where he was also a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and a recipient of the Sterling Prize, in 2012. Prior to Yale, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with an AB in Government and African and African American Studies and received an MSc in Political Theory Research as a Michael von Clemm Fellow at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford.

Brannon P. Denning, J.D. has written on the commerce clause and the dormant commerce clause, judicial and executive branch appointments, the constitutional amendment process, foreign affairs and the U.S. Constitution, and on the Second Amendment. He collaborated with Boris I. Bittker, Sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale, on \_The Regulation of Interstate Commerce and Foreign Commerce\_ (Aspen Law and Business 1999) and is sole author of the second edition. He also edited \_Gun Control and Gun Rights: A Reader and Guide\_ (NYU Press, 2002), which addresses aspects of firearms regulation and is the only book of its kind designed for undergraduate use.

Dr. Bratislav Stankovic strives to foster improved understanding of the issues at the intersection of law, science, politics, and ethics through a variety of means, including traditional publications, as well as providing input to government and international organizations. He has made particular contributions in the areas of international property rights and plant space biology, and in policy issues involving biotechnology. He holds a PhD degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln, and a JD degree from the University of Wisconsin‐Madison. Dr. Stankovic is a registered patent attorney. He is admitted to practice law in Illinois and in Wisconsin, is a Professor of Law at the University American College Skopje, teaches Patent Law at Loyola University Chicago, and has practiced at one of the largest IP law firms in the USA, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in Chicago. He is a Science and Technology Advisor to the President of Macedonia Dr. Gjorge Ivanov. He is a recipient of two Fulbright Scholarships for Intellectual Property Law. Dr. Stankovic writes and teaches on patent law, biotechnology law, bioethics, law and medicine, molecular and space biology. He also has over 20 years of experience as a scientist, including 4 years as a Chief Scientist at the NASA‐funded Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, where he was the principal investigator for several experiments on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

Brenda Smith Myles, a consultant with the Ziggurat Group, is the recipient of the 2004 Autism Society of America's Outstanding Professional Award and the 2006 Princeton Fellowship Award. She has written numerous articles and books on Asperger Syndrome and autism including *Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns* and *Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Practical Solutions for School Success*. The latter is the winner of the Autism Society of America's Outstanding Literary Work. Brenda has made over 500 presentations all over the world, written more than 150 articles and books on autism and Asperger Syndrome, and served as the co-chair of the National ASD Teacher Standards Committee. She is on the National Institute of Mental Health's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's Strategic Planning Consortium and the Autism Society of America's Panel of Professional Advisors. Myles is also on the executive boards of several organizations, including the Organization for Autism Research and Maap Services, Inc. In addition, she was recently acknowledged as the second most productive applied researcher in ASD in the world from 1997 to 2004.