“She’s always been a very fine admnistrator. She’s really the reason why we have a flourishing women’s studies program,” Russet said.
“It took a lot of doing to get it off the ground,” she added. “She’s one of the most efficient people I’ve ever seen in operation.”
Russett said Cott’s decision to leave Harvard for Yale was heavily influenced by the fact she hails from the Cambridge area.
“The word was that she loved Yale and that she felt well-treated and respected here. The only thing that would lure her away would be going home, back to Cambridge,” she said. “When that opportunity opened up, I don’t think it was easy for her, but she took it.”
Russett said she thought Yale would have a hard time luring Cott back to New Haven.
“In a certain sense I think it would be hard for her to come back. If she’s happy where she is, it’s going to take a very strong offer to tempt her,” she said.
Russett added that she was confident in Cott’s qualifications.
“I do think she’d do a very good job... If Yale is willing to court her, she is certainly qualified. Whether she is interested, I don’t know,” she said.
—Staff writer Nathaniel A. Smith can be reached at nsmith@fas.harvard.edu.