Melissa Buis Michaux is available to speak about Oregon politics, American politics and welfare reform. She directs the Women and Gender Studies Program, the Politics Department, and Willamette's Legislative Internship Program at the Oregon State Capitol. In 2007-08 she sponsored a local chapter of the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee (WUFPAC), an organization that encourages young women to run for office. One of her most popular courses is "Parties, Elections and Campaigns."

Michaux came to Oregon and Willamette in 2001 to study the state's innovative approach to welfare. Her research also focuses on feminism. She recently co-wrote Making Mommies: Feminist Responses to Parenting Manuals, which documents how feminism and the rise of intensive parenting have influenced parenting manuals since the 1950s.

For more than a decade Courtney Dillard's research has focused on persuasion and social change. Her book The Progressive's Pocketbook of Persuasion outlines specific ways that progressives at all levels of political involvement can create more effective persuasion. A political activist, Dillard served as speaker trainer for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in Oregon.

An expert in federal and state public law, Professor Diller joined the Willamette law faculty in 2005. He teaches Property, State and Local Government Law, and Real Estate Transactions. His scholarly interests also include constitutional and education law. Diller received his law degree from the University of Michigan, where he was articles editor of the Michigan Law Review. Following graduation, Diller served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. He then worked for three years as an attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he represented the United States in litigation involving constitutional, administrative and international law.

To read Paul A. Diller's complete biography on the Willamette College of Law website, click here.