Psychology Professor Denied Tenure

In a move that has surprised psychologists at Harvard and beyond, the University denied tenure to a renowned associate professor of psychology last month.

Several professors in the department said they are disturbed by the decision not to promote Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences Nalini Ambady, who has taught at Harvard since 1994.

The sentiment is shared by dozens of past and present graduate students and undergraduates.

And few can understand how after receiving the approval of both the department and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby, she will soon be leaving Cambridge.

The University, through its spokesperson Joe Wrinn, declined to comment on the deliberations, citing all tenure proceedings as confidential.

But the former chair of the department said University President Lawrence H. Summers’ decision was the result of opposition from a minority of professors within the department.

“I don’t think that Larry Summers was the one who made the wrong decision here. There were significant divisions in the department,” said former Chair of the Psychology Department Robert Rosenthal.

Many are worried about the void Ambady’s departure will leave.

“She represents a large commitment to diversity at the academy, she has an outstanding lab unparalleled in the department and, if the president really values as he has said, all the [diversity] she is bringing, this is a really a shame,” said Jennifer A. Richeson, a professor of psychology at Dartmouth and former Harvard graduate student under Ambady.

Indeed, few contest Ambady’s academic achievements—which have gained national recognition unparalleled by most of her colleagues.

In 1998, she was the first ever recipient in social psychology of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor the United States government grants young scientists. Only a few Harvard professors have received the recognition.

“There is nobody is the psychology department on her level. She was the first social scientist to receive that honor—she is the best at Harvard,” Rosenthal said.

Summers’ decision came after the review of an ad hoc committee—composed of three psychologists outside of the University and three Harvard professors outside her department—that began over the summer.

Ambady was notified last spring that the department had recommended her for tenure and told that Kirby passed off on it over the summer.

“I was given every sign that things were going well at the time of my promotion to associate professor,” Ambady said. “I have felt supported by the psychology department and feel positively toward it.”

Defending Their Turf

Many said that Ambady’s strongest supporters within the department were not in her field of social psychology and that this plagued her efforts to become a full professor.

All departmental members were encouraged to write letters to a tenure committee attesting to Ambady’s qualifications.

According to several sources in the department, when Ambady’s tenure was discussed by the department at least three senior faculty members in cognitive social psychology were opposed.

The cognitive specialists in the department are Professors of Psychology Mahzarin R. Banaji, Daniel T. Gilbert, Ellen J. Langer and Daniel M. Wegner.

A source within the department said that Langer was one of Ambady’s supporters.

Ambady specializes in nonverbal social psychology.

Gilbert declined comment on the case, while Langer and Wegner were unavailable.

Several said that the cognitive psychologists—who focus on intrapersonal behaviors—are dominating Harvard’s social psychology discipline and this clearly hurts scholars such as Ambady whose research focuses on group indentities and interpersonal behaviors.

“They may have felt that everyone had to follow their major model—and that is not the path Nalini is following,” Rosenthal said.

But while she may not be representative of the type of research being done at Harvard, outside experts say Ambady’s research is valued in the field.

“The work she is doing is mainstream across the field. The frontier is where she is going,” said Steven J. Breckler, a program director for the National Science Foundation.

Several other factors for the denial have been quietly discussed within the department.

Several professors in the department said some of Ambady’s colleagues turned against her because of her involvement in uncovering fraudulent research conducted by former Associate Professor Karen M. Ruggiero.

Others cite the addition of Banaji—another female Indian professor in social psychology who arrived from Yale in 2000 after being once denied tenure by Harvard in 1996—as a factor that did not work in Ambady’s favor.

“It looks bad that a senior Indian woman was tenured from outside. It is not clear that this woman had as senior a record,” Richeson said.

Shooting Themselves In The Foot

Nalini declined to comment on her plans for the future. And in the present, people are already mourning her loss.

The almost dozen graduate students who work with her said that they, and Harvard, will particularly miss the unique nature of her lab.

“She manages to foster an environment that is not competitive. I don’t know how she does it—that is definitely not the case in other labs,” said graduate student Jennifer Steele.

Reginald B. Adams, a post-doctoral student, said he was given the option of working with almost anyone in the field and chose Ambady for both her integrity and her research.

“She really encourages creative insights. There is less emphasis on fitting the mold than at other labs,” he said.

Undergraduates also say that they were eager to work with her.

“I decided to help out in her lab hearing great things about how she works with undergrads,” said Shinah K. Chang ’03.

Ambady teaches Psychology 1961, “Intermediate Quantitative Methods” this semester and is praised as an instructor. She has won two Hoopes prizes for theses she advised in 1997 and 1998.

“She is an innovative instructor. She works harder than anyone I know in the department, and she has taught more than she has had to,” Rosenthal said.

And he said he can’t believe Harvard has “shot themselves in the foot” with the tenure denial.

“She is going to be one the leading social scientists of the next 20 years.,” he said. “Wherever she is, she is going to help make that place famous.”

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.