J. E. Sumerau, Ph.D. (2012), University of Tampa, is an Associate Professor and the Director of Applied Sociology. She has published six prior novels about LGBTQIA life in the U.S. as well as over 80 scholarly works at the intersection of sexualities, gender, health, religion, and violence.

Via Chicago explores the formation of families and the ways trauma can bond a group of people through the case of a chosen family of LGBTQ people in Chicago.