Political Polarization in America: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going, and Why It Matters

About the speakers

William J. Doherty

Bill Doherty is an educator, researcher, therapist, speaker, author, consultant, and community organizer.  He is the founder of Citizen Therapists for Democracy and serves as a Senior Fellow of the Better Angels organization, a bipartisan citizens’ movement working to “depolarize America.”

Bill is also a past president of the National Council on Family Relations and has authored or edited nine books for professionals, numerous articles in professional journals, and five books for a general audience.  He is a licensed marriage and family therapist, psychologist, and Clinical Member, Fellow and Approved Supervisor for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. He received his Ph.D. in family studies from the University of Connecticut in 1978.

Samara Klar

Samara Klar is Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy.  Her research focuses on how individuals’ personal identities and social surroundings influence their political attitudes and behavior.  She received her PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University in 2013.  Her book, Independent Politics, (co-authored with Yanna Krupnikov) examines why so many Americans refrain from identifying with a party label and what the broader consequences are for American politics.

She is also the founder of the website WomenAlsoKnowStuff, which now features over 1,200 women in political science who are all experts in what they do. The site has since inspired spin-off sites across different disciplines in countries all over the world.