Sheila Ellen Blumstein (born 1944) is professor emerita of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University, where she was the Albert D. Mead Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences. Among other distinctions, she served as the interim president of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

from February 2000 until July 2001 after

Gordon Gee Elwood Gordon Gee (born February 2, 1944), known as E. Gordon Gee, is an American academic. As of 2020, he was serving his second term as President of West Virginia University; his first term was from 1981 to 1985. Gee has held more university pr ...

departed and before Ruth Simmons took the position. Although Dr. Simmons is deemed the first

female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

president of the university, Dr. Blumstein's portrait hangs in Sayles Hall along with those of past presidents.

Education and academic career

Blumstein is a 1965

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

graduate in linguistics of the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

and she earned her Ph.D. in linguistics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1970. She came to Brown as an assistant professor in linguistics in 1970, was promoted to associate professor in 1976, and became a professor in 1981. She was chairman of the Department of Linguistics from 1978–81, Chairman of the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences from 1986–87, in 1997, and from 1998 to 2000, and Associate Chair from 2008-2010. She has served as Dean of the College at Brown from 1987-1995, as Interim Provost in 1998, and as Interim President from February 2000 to July 2001. Blumstein has published extensively on the neural basis of speech and language processing using both

lesion A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by disease or trauma. ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin "injury". Lesions may occur in plants as well as animals. Types There is no designated classifi ...

-based and functional

neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...

methods.

Awards and distinctions

Blumstein has served as member of a number of scientific review panels and boards for the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

, and the McDonnell Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience. She has been the recipient of a number of honors and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Claude Pepper Award from the

, a

Radcliffe Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

Fellowship, and an Honorary Doctorate as well as the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal, both from Brown University. She has been elected fellow of the

Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary orga ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, and the

Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumstein, Sheila Living people American educational theorists Brown University faculty Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Presidents of Brown University Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the American Philosophical Society Linguists from the United States 1944 births American women linguists Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America Women heads of universities and colleges