YSPH SBS 525 Seminar Series: Tania Israel, University of California Santa Barbara: "Bridging the Political Divide: Optimism for Moving Beyond Polarization"

Tania Israel is a Professor of Counseling Psychology at UCSB and award-winning author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work (APA, 2020). She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, a Masters degree in Human Sexuality Education, and a B.A. in Psychology and Women’s Studies. As Director of UCSB’s Project RISE, Dr. Israel leads a research team that develops and studies interventions to support the psychological health of LGBTQ individuals and communities. Her expertise has been solicited by the Institute of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and the White House. Dr. Israel has received honors for her research and advocacy from Congress, the American Psychological Association, the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, and her local LGBT community. She has two widely viewed TEDx talks (on bisexuality and how to win a political argument), and her whimsy and creativity are evident in her bisexual haiku (#biku) and in the Buddhist podcast she co-hosts. taniaisrael.com