Carol Gilligan

Psychologist Carol Gilligan, will once again challenge our knowledge and expertise. We have been guided by her ground breaking investigations into how women develop their self-identities and values in a society dominated by patriarchal values. Her publications, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (1982) and Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Lyn Mikel Brown, 1992) have expanded our understanding of human development and the human condition. In a Different Voice, ushered in a new era of thinking about psychology and reshaped our conversations about morality and ethics. Gilligan reframed the discussion of human development and provided a new theoretical model. Professor Gilligan will challenge us to revisit her seminal work which is now 25 years old.  Summa cum laude graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. 1958), Gilligan earned a master's degree in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College in 1960 and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard in 1964. She began teaching at Harvard with the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson in 1967 and received tenure as full professor in 1986. From 1992-93, she was the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at the University of Cambridge in England. In 1997, Gilligan was appointed to a newly endowed professorship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard's first position in gender studies. Time magazine named her one of the 25 most influential Americans. Gilligan is the recipient of many awards and honors including the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Education, which honors achievements in fields not recognized by the Nobel prizes, such as education and music, and the Heinz Award for her contributions to understanding the human condition.