These UC Davis experts are available to comment on issues that will be raised during the U.S. Civil Rights Commission Hearing Friday, May 13, in Washington, D.C.: “Peer-to-Peer Violence and Bullying: Examining the Federal Response.” (http://www.usccr.gov/index.html) The briefing will examine bullying and other types of violence among K-12 children. The commission is scheduled to issue a final report on this topic in September.

Gregory M. Herek, professor of psychology at UC Davis Department of Psychology, is an authority on sexual orientation and violence/prejudice/stigma against sexual minorities. He will testify at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing May 13 on bullying and peer victimization based on sexual orientation in K-12 schools. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from UC Davis in 1983 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. He subsequently served as a faculty member at Yale and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York before returning to UC Davis, first as a research psychologist and later as a professor. An internationally recognized authority on prejudice against lesbians and gay men, anti-gay violence, and AIDS-related stigma, he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He is the recipient of the 2006 Kurt Lewin Memorial Award for "outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action." (530) 752-8085; gmherek@ucdavis.edu; http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Herek/

Adrienne Nishina, an assistant professor of human development at UC Davis, focuses on peer relations from sixth grade through high school. The clinical psychologist studies short-term and long-term effects of victimization, coping strategies, psychological and physical health issues, and academic adjustment. She is also researching how schools can help students feel engaged academically and socially. Nishina also can talk about how the balance of ethnicities affects students' feelings of safety at school. She is involved with a longitudinal peer relationships study at UCLA study that is following the paths of low-income students in the greater Los Angeles area as they transition from 11 middle schools to 140 high schools and beyond. The study hopes to find the keys to success for low-income, ethnically diverse school populations. Contact: (530) 752-7003, anishina@ucdavis.edu.