BC Professor Contributes Academic Diversity

With a long-standing research partnership at the University and a family that boasts five Harvard degrees, visiting professor Kay Schlozman does not have a hard time navigating the Harvard landscape.

Schlozman has served as a visiting professor six times since 1987, filling student demand for a variety of specific courses in both the Government and Women, Gender, and Sexuality departments. This fall, Schlozman has returned to teach a new course for undergraduates, Government 1545: “Gender and Politics.”

But Schlozman’s connection with the University goes beyond her academic work. Her two children—Daniel A. Schlozman ’03 and Julia E. Schlozman ’09—hold five degrees in total from the University. After attending the College, Daniel went on to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science, and Julia graduated from Harvard Law School this past spring.

Despite her substantial academic and personal investment in Harvard, Schlozman’s allegiance remains with Boston College, where she serves as the assistant chair of the political science department and where she will return following her visiting professorship.

In her dual roles, Schlozman has spent this fall trekking back and forth between the two schools, filling holes in Harvard’s academic curriculum while fulfilling her roles as a mentor and administrator at Boston College.

FILLING A NEED

As Harvard continues to tighten its budgetary belt, visiting professors such as Schlozman have become a mainstay on campus, filling departmental needs without necessitating additional faculty. This year, 41 visiting professors were welcomed to campus, according to FAS spokesperson Jeff Neal.

“Visiting faculty help ensure that we can offer a diverse range of classes and perspectives to both undergraduate and graduate students,” Neal wrote in an email to The Crimson.

Harvard reached out to Schlozman last spring after a student movement called for a course on gender and politics—an area which some students claimed was missing from the government department’s curriculum.

“It’s an issue that needs to be addressed—it’s an important course to have,” said Valentina I. Perez ’15, who is currently taking the class.

Although Schlozman’s research has focused more on participatory inequalities of American politics, her broad repertoire of teaching experience and knowledge of Harvard made her a perfect fit.

“There is nobody really on the [Harvard] faculty who can [teach this class],” said Schlozman, who has taught the same class at Boston College.

While the student movement cited a significant demand for the class, only 14 students—all of whom are female—enrolled in Government 1545 this fall. As a result, Schlozman adapted the class from a lecture format to a more discussion-oriented experience.

Schlozman said that the absence of men in her course is not particularly problematic. “There are clearly women who find it a home for intellectual questions that are not getting answered elsewhere,” she said.

Perez echoed Schlozman’s sentiment, adding that Harvard still has room to grow in terms of exploring the relationship between gender and politics. To her, Schlozman’s class is a step in the right direction.

Perez said that Schlozman always ties class discussions back to Harvard, which makes the discussions relatable.

Despite the fact that Schlozman is a visiting professor, Perez said “she has an understanding of what goes on at Harvard” which has added to the experience of the class.

FROM MENTEE TO MENTOR

As a student at Wellesley College in the 1960’s, Schlozman once played former leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev in a cold war simulation. Across the table sat a young Hillary Rodham, playing the role of Mao Zedong, according to Schlozman’s son, Daniel.

Schlozman, who described herself as “a child of the [Chicago] suburbs,” said that Wellesley was the springboard for her academic career.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley in 1968 with a degree in Sociology, Schlozman enrolled at the University of Chicago, where she began her doctoral work in political science.

Professor emeritus Sidney Verba, former head of Harvard’s Government department who was an assistant professor at UChicago at the time, served as Schlozman’s dissertation advisor. The two followed separate paths to Boston, where they maintained a longstanding collaboration that has produced numerous articles and four books over the years, according to Verba.

Most recently, the pair published “The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy” with Henry E. Brady, Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. The 728-page book, which Schlozman called a “big, red doorstop,” is the most exhaustive examination of participatory inequality published yet, she said.

Just as Verba mentored Schlozman at the UChicago, Schlozman personally mentors a number of Boston College students, even this year as she maintains her full-time job at Harvard. Schlozman said that she has spent a great deal of time this fall writing letters of recommendation and advising students considering graduate school.

“One is hardly aware of her absence,” said Susan M. Shell, the chair of the political science department at Boston College.

AN ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER

At Boston College, Schlozman has been a “seminal force” in creating innovative teaching methods and researching prolifically, Shell said.

During her time at Boston College, Schlozman developed a sophomore tutorial program that won the Rowan and Littlefield Award in Innovative Teaching from the American Political Science Association.

“She’s a very significant figure [at Boston College],” said Verba, who described Schlozman as a leader in her field and a “superstar” in Boston College’s political science department.

Schlozman’s notable career has been characterized by her research regarding the inequalities of America’s political system.

“Her motivation is a civic one,” said Verba, who pointed to Schlozman as an academic who, without sacrificing objectivity, has contributed to the betterment of society.

Schlozman has moved through her career with “a commitment to understanding the way inequalities affect American life,” said her son Daniel, who is currently an assistant professor of American politics at Johns Hopkins University.

“She always gives 120 percent,” said Shell, who has worked with Schlozman on various administrative tasks at Boston College. In addition to her work ethic, Shell praised Schlozman’s “extremely gracious and cooperative” attitude.

While her professional life is filled with accomplishments, her daughter, Julia, described her as a mother who loved two things: reading the New York Times and cooking.

“The only books of hers that I’ve read have been her two compilations of family recipes,” said Julia, with a laugh.