Stanford lures Harvard professors Bobo, Morgan

Black Issues in Higher Education, Oct 21, 2004

BOSTON

For married partners in academia, tenure, or the lack thereof, can complicate a couple's situation substantially, and not always in the most positive manner. But for two nationally renowned professors, Lawrence Bobo and Marcyliena Morgan, who are married, tenure troubles have resulted in a coastal shift that positions them rather favorably.

Drs. Bobo and Morgan will pursue scholarship in their respective departments as well as at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University after Morgan was denied tenure at Harvard University, although she received unanimous departmental support.

"Both ... are such strong scholars. It's wonderful for us," said Dr. Claude Steele, the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences and CCSRE's current director.

Bobo will join Stanford as a professor of sociology and the director of CCSRE. He is currently the Norman Tishman and Charles M. Diker Professor of Sociology and of African and African American studies at Harvard University. His research interests include racial attitudes and relations, social psychology, public opinion and political behavior. He is the author of numerous books and articles and was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Morgan will join Stanford as an associate professor of communication. She is currently an associate professor of African and African American studies at Harvard. Her research has focused on language, culture and identity, sociolinguistics, discourse and interaction. She is the founder and director of the Hip Hop Archive and author of Language, Discourse and Power in African American Culture.

Stanford Provost John Etchemendy called the appointments "very good news for the university and very good news for CCSRE. Larry and Marcy are scholars who excel in both research and teaching. I am extremely eager for my colleagues on the faculty and Stanford students to have the opportunity to share in the dynamic intellectual energy they will bring to our campus."

Sharon Long, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, said Stanford's combination of disciplinary and interdisciplinary strengths makes this an excellent fit for Bobo's and Morgan's academic work.

"CCSRE and the new Research Institute on the Social Sciences are examples of programs that connect faculty and students from multiple departments, and from the other schools at Stanford," Long said. "Given the increasing importance in the social sciences of combining disciplinary strength with multidisciplinary perspectives, we are very excited about the contributions Marcy and Larry are sure to make."

Steele said he was "thrilled that Larry Bobo and Marcy Morgan will be joining our center. Larry is one of the nation's chief experts on racial attitudes and the progress of racial integration, and Marcy is one of the nation's foremost experts on African American culture and language."

The Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity brings scholarly and scientific work on race and ethnicity of many fields into programmatic focus through its comparative approach. The undergraduate program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity has more than 90 student majors and minors. More than 100 faculty members from a wide range of departments are affiliated with the center.

Bobo just recently launched the interdisciplinary journal, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, which he will continue to co-edit with former Harvard University colleague Dr. Michael Dawson (see Black Issues, Aug. 26).

In addition to the departure of Bobo and Morgan from Harvard to Stanford, a recent report in The Boston Globe indicates that during Lawrence Summers' presidency at Harvard, the percentage of tenured women faculty in Arts and Sciences has declined steadily. In response to this shift, 26 Harvard professors have requested that the school reform its hiring policies.

Summers told the Associated Press that departments must bear some of the responsibility for decreasing numbers of tenured women faculty.

"Departments do need to step up their energy in this regard," Summers said.

--Staff and AP news wire reports.