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Career Development ProfileNancy Cantor, PhD
Dr. Nancy Cantor is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan. She comes to this academic leadership position from a career past that has included research, scholarship and academic administration. Cantor said she has always sought to understand the complexities that produce behavior—this focus is reflected in her educational and research interests, which have spanned personality, social psychology and cognitive psychology. After she completed her undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence College, Cantor did graduate work at Stanford, where she was guided by Ewart Thomas, a mathematical psychologist, and Walter Mischel, a personality psychologist. "Thomas and Mischel both epitomized the breadth of intellectual skills and support for cross-area interests that ultimately made Stanford a very welcoming place for me. Each also proved to be my mentor, teacher, ally and friend." Her dissertation research focused on how personality prototypes and cognitive structures affect the ways in which people perceive one another. She received her PhD in Psychology from Stanford University in 1978. Drawn to Princeton University’s psychology department, Cantor taught in the social psychology program and pursued research in personality and social behavior and goal-setting and life tasks throughout the lifespan. In 1983 she went to the University of Michigan, and between the psychology department and the Institute for Social Research, continued her research on the contextual, social and personality identity issues that affect behavior. In 1991 she returned to the faculty at Princeton, and then began her involvement in university administration when she became chair of the Psychology Department there in 1992. In 1996, she returned again to Michigan as Dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. A year later, she assumed her current role as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Cantor continues her research, although not at quite the same level of activity before she assumed the provostship. Assuming a significant administrative role was in some ways a natural progression from a persistent interest in institutions and in having an impact at the institutional level. "The issues facing higher education are issues that are often best informed by an understanding of human behavior; how groups relate to one another and how individuals fit into their environments. This position is not independent of my interest in psychology and it affords me the opportunity to have a broad impact." Cantor believes a deep scholarly passion is important and that breadth of interest and a broad sense of energy for different directions are essential to success. "Women and people of color still face more scrutiny in how they act and what they do and this scrutiny becomes more intense the higher up the career ladder you go, so be prepared for not having room for error." But she feels that women are bringing new and different styles of relating into the workplace and these styles foster expressiveness and collaboration. She also advises women that there is no single recipe for a good career. "You don’t have to go by the perceived successes of prior generations. Look for the opportunities that play to your individual strengths. And seek help." Cantor has always relied on mentoring from a variety of people and relationships in her life: friends, collaborators, students, colleagues who serve on national committees. Dr. Cantor feels that she can help to foster the development of other women in science and technology by serving on relevant boards, where such inroads might be established either by example, or by raising consciousness. She has exemplified this by being a member of study sections and advisory boards at the National Science Foundation, and serving on the task force that recommended establishing a new directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (1990-1991). She also served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on National Needs in Biomedical and Behavioral Science Research (1992-1993), and as a member (1993-1996) and Vice-Chair of the National Research Council Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (1995-1996). She recently was a member of the National Research Council Advisory Committee for the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel (1997-1998) and of the Congressional Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues (1998-1999). Dr. Cantor currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (1998- ) and on the National Science Foundation, Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, (1999-2002). By working on such boards and committees, Cantor is in a position to effect institutional change. "We need to capitalize on the opportunities afforded to established academics, and use those to further scientific progress and foster institutional change to this end." Dr. Cantor received the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology of the American Psychological Association (1985), and was President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Division 8, APA 1992-1993). She has served as Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin (1986-1989), Journal of Personality (1986-1988), and Personality and Social Psychology Review (1996-98). She notes that "the opportunities to serve one’s profession never seem to come at precisely the ideal time – one always has too much to do already – but these experiences can be absolutely critical in terms of building an informal network in the field and obtaining a wide exposure to interesting and exciting work and people. As long as women and people of color feel empowered to be selective in what they accept, taking on some of these "extra" duties can be a very eye-opening and gratifying experience. As I have studied in the laboratory, taking part is generally good for individual well-being!"
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