From promoting voter registration, to inspiring informed engagement, and providing support for students, faculty and staff, Stony Brook University has been reaching out to the entire campus community with programs, services, messages and campaigns designed to ensure civil discourse and debate during one of the most challenging times in our nation’s history.

This episode of Beyond the Expected podcast, titled “Election 2020 -- Preparing for the Day After,” looks at why it’s so important that the community come together with empathy as a community, to bridge the partisan divide. Three University experts speak about the programs and services planned for the day -- and days -- after this historic election. In addition, the panel looks at the psychology behind today’s political climate … why people feel the way they do … and how the population can work through divisions, fear, anxiety and uncertainty, all of which have risen to fever pitch this year.

Laura Lindenfeld, the Dean of Stony Brook’s School of Journalism and executive director of the Alda Center for Communicating Science, serves as moderator of this episode of “Beyond the Expected.”

Jeff Barnett is Interim Assistant Dean of Students. In this role, he’s responsible for areas such as community-building initiatives, large-scale programming, policy development, and student crisis response and case management, and he’ll talk about specific post-Election programs.

Cathrine Duffy is Director of Stony Brook University's Healthier U initiative. In her role, she implements a full suite of programs designed to support a healthy work environment, and provide opportunities for staff and faculty to enhance their physical, fiscal and mental health. Like Jeff, she will share with us the post-Election services and support that will be available.

Yanna Krupnikov is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. She integrates psychology and political science to identify points at which new information can have the most profound effect on the way people form political opinions, make political choices and, ultimately, take political actions.

Production Credits

Moderator/Host: Laura Lindenfeld

Guests/panelists: Jeffrey Barnett, Cathrine Duffy, Yanna Krunikov

Interim Vice President for Marketing and Communication: Teresa Flannery

Producer: Ellen Cooke

Advisor: Lauren Sheprow

Art Director: Karen Leibowitz

Facebook Live and Social Media: Meryl Altuch, Casey Borchick, Veronica Brown

Media Relations: Emily Cappiello

Production Assistant: Joan Behan-Duncan

YouTube Technician: Dennis Murray

Vodcast Director: Jan Diskin-Zimmerman

Engineer/Technical Director: Phil Altiere

Production Manager/Editor: Tony Fabrizio

Camera/Lighting Director: Jim Oderwald

Camera: Frank D'Aurio and Frank Imperiale

Special thanks to the School of Journalism for use of its podcast studio