The Stony Brook Provost's Lecture Series features talks by the university's SUNY Distinguished Academy faculty highlighting their areas of deep expertise. Leonie Huddy delivered a talk, “A Nation Divided: Partisan Identity and the Psychology of Political Polarization” on March 5, 2024.

Huddy is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of the department of Political Science. She received her bachelor’s of science focusing on Psychology and Zoology from Monash University, then obtained a second bachelor’s in Zoology from University of New England. She later obtained her Master’s and PH.D in Social Psychology from the University of California. She has been on the Stony Brook faculty since 1988. Her research specializes in political behavior in the United States and elsewhere through the lens of intergroup relations, with a special focus on gender, race, and ethnic relations. Her recent work extends that focus to the study of partisan identities and political polarization in the United States and Western Europe. Her work has explored intergroup relations, racial prejudice and resentment and how they affect political ideology, public opinion, and the reactions of the public to threats.