One of the hottest current political topics is one that Professor of Government and Coordinator of Gender Studies Valerie Lehr has been studying and writing about for a long time:  Should same-sex couples be viewed as legal equals to traditional pairs?

Recently appointed to the position of vice president of the University and dean of academic affairs, effective July 1, 2007, Lehr is the author of the 1999 book Queer Family Values: Debunking the Myth of the Nuclear Family. A member of the St. Lawrence faculty since 1988, her area of research is the intersection of political theory, feminist theory and gay/lesbian/queer political activism. More recently, Lehr has been pursing research on human rights and queer youth, and she delivered (in the spring of 2007) the first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer (LGBTQ) lecture on campus, "Queer Youth May Talk, But Is Anyone Obligated to Listen?"

A graduate of New College of the University of South Florida, with a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park, Lehr teaches courses focused on gender and politics in the U.S.; the family and politics in the U.S.; gay and lesbian politics; welfare policy in the U.S.; and feminist political theory. In 1996, she won the Louis and Frances Maslow Award at St. Lawrence, which goes to the faculty member who has shown "the most interest in and understanding of the education and welfare of the student body as a whole." From 1997 to 2001, she served as the associate dean of the first year, and she has been involved in a number of grant-funded projects, including the Women and Scientific Literacy project, sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Oral Communication project, sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation.