Department of Political Science

Dr. Huber studies democratization and redistribution in Latin America and advanced industrial democracies. She is the author of numerous articles in refereed journals, as well as of The Politics of Workers’ Participation: The Peruvian Approach in Comparative Perspective (1980); co-author of Democratic Socialism in Jamaica (with John D. Stephens, 1986); of Capitalist Development and Democracy (with Dietrich Rueschemeyer and John D. Stephens, 1992); of Development and Crisis of the Welfare State (with John D. Stephens, 2001); and of Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America (with John. D. Stephens, 2012). The last three books all won book awards.

She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a fellow at the Wilson Center, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, the Kellogg Institute, the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, and the Collegio Carlo Alberto, and she received an Honorary Doctorate in the Social Sciences from the University of Bern in 2010, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010, and the Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction from the University of North Carolina in 2004. She is a former President (2012-13) of the Latin American Studies Association and a former Vice President (2017-18) of the American Political Science Association.

Dr. Treul specializes in American political institutions, with an emphasis on the U.S. Congress. Her current work examines the role of previous political experience and anti-establishment rhetoric on the success of congressional candidates and vote choice in the electorate. Other ongoing projects analyze the role of experience and ideology on legislative effectiveness in Congress, how extreme ideological primary challenges influence congressional behavior.

She earned her B.A. in Political Science and Psychology from Wellesley College and her M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She is the recipient of UNC’s Tanner Award for Teaching Excellence, the Chapman Family Teaching Award, Honors Carolina’s Manekin Award for Teaching Excellence, and the department of political science’s Robson Award for Excellence in Graduate Instruction.