Sarah-Jane Leslie *07 earned her Ph.D. from Princeton’s philosophy department, where she then served as a faculty member for 12 years before becoming dean of the Graduate School. Along the way, she has held various administrative positions at Princeton, including founding director of the Program in Cognitive Science, director of the Program in Linguistics, acting chair of the philosophy department, and vice dean for faculty development. She is a lifetime member of the Association for Princeton Graduate Alumni, and has engaged with Princeton’s alumni body in various ways, including as member of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council.
Leslie’s research focuses on how we categorize and generalize information about the world around us. As part of this project, she examines how the language young children hear shapes their perception of social groups, and how this relates to stereotyping and prejudice. Most recently, she has been examining gender gaps in educational and career choices, and her work on the topic was named as one of 2015’s most interesting scientific findings by Edge. Her work has been covered extensively in the media, including by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Her television and radio appearances include programs on NPR and BBC, and on NBC’s Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.