Carol Gilligan

writer, psychologist

Carol Gilligan is an internationally acclaimed psychologist and prolific writer. She graduated summa cum laude from Swarthmore College in 1958 with a major in literature. She went on to do advanced work at Radcliffe University receiving a Masters in clinical psychology in 1960. She earned her doctorate in social psychology from Harvard University in 1964. Gilligan began teaching at Harvard in 1967 with renowned psychologist Erik Erikson. In 1970 she became a research assistant for Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg is known for his research on moral development and his stage theory of moral development, justice and rights. Gilligan received tenure as a full professor for the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1986. Gilligan spent 1992-1994 teaching at the University of Cambridge in England. She was invited there as a Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions. Her area of academic expertise is in human development and psychology. She is a considered to be a pioneer of gender studies and particularly in the psychological and moral development of girls. In 1997, Gilligan was appointed to Harvard University's first position in gender studies which is a newly endowed position at the Harvard Graduate School of Education known as the Patricia Albjerg Graham Chair in Gender Studies.