Kerry L. Haynie earned B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the faculty at Duke in 2003, he was a member of the faculty at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Haynie’s research examines how the underlying theory, structures, and practices of American political institutions affect African Americans’ and women’s efforts to organize and exert influence on the political system. In addition to articles in various academic journals, his publications include, New Race Politics in America: Understanding Minority and Immigrant Voting (co-edited with Jane Junn, Cambridge University Press), African American Legislators in the American States (Columbia University Press), The Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics, Volume I: African Americans and Asian Americans(Oryx Press); The Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics, Volume II: Hispanic Americans and Native Americans (Oryx Press), and Race, Gender, and Legislative Representation: Toward a More Intersectional Approach (with Beth Reingold and Kirsten Widner, Oxford University Press), winner of the 2021 Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize from the American Political Science Association for the best book in legislative studies. Haynie and Beth Reingold previously won the American Political Science Association’s Women and Politics Research Section’s Best Paper Award (2012). Professor Haynie is the founder and director of the Summer Institute on Tenure and Professional Advancement (SITPA), a national junior faculty mentoring initiative supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Dara Purvis is a professor at Penn State Law, specializing in family law, feminist legal theory, masculinities, and sexuality and gender identity. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern California, an M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Prior to her graduate studies, she was a summer intern at Population Connection. She lives in State College, Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, and rescue dogs.