“It looks bad that a senior Indian woman was tenured from outside. It is not clear that this woman had as senior a record,” Richeson said.

Shooting Themselves In The Foot

Nalini declined to comment on her plans for the future. And in the present, people are already mourning her loss.

The almost dozen graduate students who work with her said that they, and Harvard, will particularly miss the unique nature of her lab.

“She manages to foster an environment that is not competitive. I don’t know how she does it—that is definitely not the case in other labs,” said graduate student Jennifer Steele.

Reginald B. Adams, a post-doctoral student, said he was given the option of working with almost anyone in the field and chose Ambady for both her integrity and her research.

“She really encourages creative insights. There is less emphasis on fitting the mold than at other labs,” he said.

Undergraduates also say that they were eager to work with her.

“I decided to help out in her lab hearing great things about how she works with undergrads,” said Shinah K. Chang ’03.

Ambady teaches Psychology 1961, “Intermediate Quantitative Methods” this semester and is praised as an instructor. She has won two Hoopes prizes for theses she advised in 1997 and 1998.

“She is an innovative instructor. She works harder than anyone I know in the department, and she has taught more than she has had to,” Rosenthal said.

And he said he can’t believe Harvard has “shot themselves in the foot” with the tenure denial.

“She is going to be one the leading social scientists of the next 20 years.,” he said. “Wherever she is, she is going to help make that place famous.”

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.