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Sian Beilock

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Sian Leah Beilock (/ˈsiən ˈbaɪlɒk/ SEE-ən BY-lok;[2] born January 10, 1976) is an American cognitive scientist who is the president of Dartmouth College.[3] Previous to serving at Dartmouth College, Beilock was the president of Barnard College. Beilock spent 12 years at the University of Chicago, departing Chicago as the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology and Executive Vice Provost.[4]

Sian Beilock
Beilock in 2024
19th President of Dartmouth College
Assumed office
June 12, 2023
Preceded byPhilip J. Hanlon
8th President of Barnard College
In office
July 1, 2017 – June 2023
Preceded byDebora Spar
Succeeded byLaura Rosenbury
Personal details
Born (1976-01-10) January 10, 1976 (age 48)
Berkeley, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego (BS)
Michigan State University (MS, PhD)
AwardsTroland Research Award (2017)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
Kinesiology
Institutions
ThesisWhen performance fails: Expertise, attention, and performance under pressure (2003)
Doctoral advisorsThomas Carr
Deb Feltz

Education

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Beilock graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1997 with a B.S. in cognitive science and a minor in psychology.[5] She was awarded a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2003.[6]

Career

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During and subsequent to her Ph.D. research, Beilock explored differences between novice and expert athletic performances. Later in her career, Beilock's research focused on why people perform poorly in stressful academic situations, such as taking a high-stakes mathematics exam. Beilock found that worries during those situations rob individuals of the working memory or cognitive horsepower they would normally have to focus. Because people with more working memory rely on their brainpower more, they can be affected to a greater extent in stressful academic situations. Beilock's work demonstrated that stressful situations during tests might diminish meaningful differences between students that under less stressful situations might exhibit greater differences in performance.[7] Beilock's research also relates to educational practice and policy.[8] Her work found that students' attitudes and anxieties as well as those of their teachers are critical to student success.[9] In her work, she has developed simple psychological interventions to help people perform their best under stress.[10]

From 2003 to 2005, Beilock was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Miami University. She was on the faculty at the University of Chicago from 2005 until 2017, where she was the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology and Executive Vice Provost.[5] On July 1, 2017, she became the 8th president of Barnard College.[11][12]

Dartmouth College president

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Beilock became the first woman to lead Dartmouth College, beginning her tenure as president on June 12, 2023.[13][14][15] Beilock stated her focus is on improving student mental health and fostering free speech and open dialogue on campus.[16] In October 2023, she launched “Commitment to Care: Dartmouth’s Plan for Student Mental Health and Well-Being,” and later hired the institution’s inaugural chief health and wellness officer to oversee campus health and well-being for students, faculty and staff.[17] Beilock also convened a panel hosted by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta featuring U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and all of his living predecessors to discuss the nation’s mental health crisis on September 28, 2023.[18][19]

Several high profile incidents, including the October arrests of two student protestors and free-speech concerns around monitoring of student communications, occurred early in her tenure.[20][21] Following a series of forums by Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Studies faculty, the college launched Dartmouth Dialogues in January 2024 to model productive conversations on divisive issues; build skills around empathetic listening, emotional management and conversation navigation; and encourage connection among students, faculty and staff members.[22][23]

Beilock also made news with her decision to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement for Dartmouth undergraduate admissions.[24] She was the first Ivy League president to do so following a trend of test-optional policies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.[25] In a message to the Dartmouth community, she wrote that “the decision was guided by social science research that suggests we can improve our ability to identify students from a wide range of economic backgrounds who will succeed at Dartmouth.”[26]

In May 2024, approximately 90 students, faculty and community members who were nonviolently protesting the Israel-Hamas War were taken into custody by the New Hampshire State Police.[27][28][29] A week later, Beilock stood by her decision "to ask the Hanover Police Department for help taking down the encampment" but noted she was "sorry for the harm this impossible decision has caused."[30] On May 15, 2024, Dartmouth's undergraduate student body voted no confidence in Beilock.[31] On May 20, 2024, Beilock was censured by a vote of 183 to 163 by the Dartmouth Faculty of Arts and Sciences over her response to the May 1 campus protest. This marked the first time a Dartmouth president was ever censured.[32][33]

Dartmouth is the only Ivy League college that has not faced a federal civil rights investigation over its handling of allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.[34]

See also

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Works

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  • Beilock, S. L. (2010). Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal about Getting It Right When You Have To. Simon & Schuster: Free Press.
  • Beilock, S. L. (2015). How the Body Knows Its Mind: The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel. Simon & Schuster: Atria Books.

References

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  1. ^ "2017 NAS Troland Research Award". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  2. ^ "Introducing President Sian Beilock". YouTube. July 18, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  3. ^ "Sian Leah Beilock". President | Dartmouth College. April 20, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  4. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (May 22, 2017). "Barnard Chooses a Leader Whose Research Focuses on Women". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Madam President". today.ucsd.edu. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  6. ^ "When performance fails: expertise, attention, and performance under pressure". d.lib.msu.edu. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  7. ^ Beilock, Sian L.; Decaro, Marci S. (November 2007). "From poor performance to success under stress: working memory, strategy selection, and mathematical problem solving under pressure". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 33 (6): 983–998. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.6.983. ISSN 0278-7393. PMID 17983308. S2CID 15191846. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  8. ^ Beilock, Sian (2011). "Back to school: Dealing with academic stress: Simple psychological interventions can reduce stress and improve academic performance". American Psychological Association. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  9. ^ "Chapter 5. The role of anxiety and motivation in students' maths and science achievement". Developing Minds in the Digital Age: Towards a Science of Learning for 21st Century Education. OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. 2019. ISBN 9789264634312.
  10. ^ Paul, Annie Murphy (April 13, 2012). "How to Be a Better Test-Taker". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  11. ^ "Leading Cognitive Scientist Sian Beilock Named 8th President of Barnard College". barnard.edu. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  12. ^ "President Sian Beilock". barnard.edu. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  13. ^ "Dartmouth Names Barnard's Sian Beilock as First Female President". Bloomberg.com. July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  14. ^ King, Hope (July 21, 2021). "Dartmouth elects Sian Beilock as its first woman president". Axios.
  15. ^ "Sian Leah Beilock". President | Dartmouth College. April 20, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  16. ^ Beilock, Sian (October 17, 2023). "State of the College address". Dartmouth College Office of the President. Trustees of Dartmouth College. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  17. ^ "Dartmouth Launches Plan for Student Mental Health". dartmouth.edu. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  18. ^ "Dartmouth Launches Plan for Student Mental Health".
  19. ^ Mowreader, Ashley. "New on the Job: Q&A With Estevan Garcia, Dartmouth College". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  20. ^ "Hanover police arrest two students during 'Dartmouth New Deal' protest". New Hampshire Public Radio. October 30, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  21. ^ "Adkins: President Sian Beilock Has Set a Dangerous Precedent for Free Speech". The Dartmouth. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  22. ^ Mowreader, Ashley. "Success Program Launch: Encouraging Dialogue on Controversial Topics". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  23. ^ Whitaker, Bill. "Tensions over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war surge on college campuses". CBS News. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  24. ^ Leonhardt, David. "A Top College Reinstates the SAT". New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  25. ^ Altchek, Ana. "SATs are back. Dartmouth is the first Ivy League to reverse course after pledging to remove standardized test requirement". Business Insider. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  26. ^ "Reactivating the SAT/ACT requirement for Dartmouth undergraduate admissions". Dartmouth.edu. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  27. ^ Patel, Vimal (May 3, 2024). "Police Treatment of a Dartmouth Professor Stirs Anger and Debate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  28. ^ "Adkins: Dozens of people arrested at pro-Palestine protest at Dartmouth College". WMUR 9 News. May 1, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  29. ^ Patel, Vimal (May 13, 2024). "Dartmouth's Leader Called in Police Quickly. The Fallout Was Just as Swift". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  30. ^ "Beilock: College President Apologizes for Community Harm". Beilock: College President Apologizes for Community Harm - The Dartmouth. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  31. ^ "Slight Majority of Participating Students vote No Confidence in Beilock," The Dartmouth, accessed May 30, 2024. https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2024/05/majority-of-participating-students-vote-no-confidence-in-beilock
  32. ^ "Dartmouth faculty votes 183 - 163 to censure Beilock". Dartmouth faculty votes 183 - 163 to censure Beilock - The Dartmouth. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  33. ^ "Dartmouth's President Is Censured by Faculty Over Protest Actions". Dartmouth’s President Is Censured by Faculty Over Protest Actions - The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  34. ^ Deutch, Gabby. "Dartmouth president says campus encampments go against 'academic mission'". Jewish Insider. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
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