Hunter College Psychologist Named Distinguished Professor

Date: July 9, 2003
Contact: Deborah Sack (deborah.sack@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4070

Dr. Virginia Valian, a cognitive scientist in Hunter College’s psychology department, has been named a Distinguished Professor, the highest academic rank in the City University of New York (CUNY).

CUNY grants Distinguished Professorships to a very small number of exceptional scholars who are recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of their work and the impact it has had on their fields. Less than 2% of CUNY faculty are Distinguished Professors.

One of Valian’s fields of specialization is gender. Her landmark 1998 book, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, brings together research in psychology, biology, sociology, and economics to explain why women are sparsely represented at the top of their fields. Among Valian’s major current responsibilities is Hunter’s Gender Equity Project (www.hunter.cuny.edu/genderequity), of which she is co-director. The project's mission is to lead the way in demolishing the glass ceiling for academic women scientists. The project is funded by a $3.75 million award from the National Science Foundation; Hunter was one of only nine campuses nationwide to receive the award. (See news release: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/newsreleases/2003/genderequityproject.shtml)

Valian is also an internationally recognized researcher in the field of language acquisition (www.hunter.cuny.edu/littlelinguist). She investigates such questions as, how people acquire what they know, how knowledge is mentally represented, whether there is innate knowledge, how the environment influences learning, and how well behavior reflects a person's knowledge. Her new book in this area, Input and Innateness: Controversies in Language Acquisition, will be published by MIT Press.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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