Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor
Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy
- I am a California native which where is where I learned my love for Mexican food and sushi! This love for food has followed me across my life. I strongly identify as a foodie and would love to chat all things food in the triangle! After my time in California, I got my PhD in Boston and then did a postdoctoral position in Chicago--another foodie city!
- Growing up in an interracial family--my dad is Black and my mom is White, making me biracial--I was hyper aware of race relations and how differently we treat people based on how they look. But as you can see here, I look White which has made visible and invisible identities salient for me. And this is what pushed me to get a PhD in social psychology! I wanted to understand more about why it is we perceive people the way we do and what contexts shifts our behaviors.
- I also never planned on becoming a psychology professor--in fact I was a social welfare major in college at UC Berkeley, and never even considered going to get a PhD until my gap year. Very happy to chat about finding your path in strange and different ways, and provide reassurance that is 100% okay to not know what you want to do! I am still figuring that out a bit too!
- I recently became a dog mom to Archie, a rescue pup from Durham, so if you are lucky he will make an appearance during our call! He is an energetic puppy that reminds me of work-life balance--something else that I strive for in life every day!
- Speaking of balance, I love college sports! And rivalries in particular. I used to think the Cal vs. Stanford rivalry was bad, but then I started working at Duke, and love every moment of the Duke vs. UNC battles each year!