Patricia Gurin is a social psychologist known for her work documenting the benefits of student and faculty diversity in higher education. She is the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women's Studies at The University of Michigan. Gurin provided testimony in the 2003

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

Affirmative Action case of ''

Grutter v. Bollinger ''Grutter v. Bollinger'', 539 U.S. 306 (2003), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning affirmative action in student admissions. The Court held that a student admissions process that favors "underrepresented mi ...

'', involving the University of Michigan, which ultimately deemed the university's affirmative action policies to be constitutional. Gurin was honored by the

American Psychological Foundation The American Psychological Foundation (abbreviated APF) is an American philanthropic organization dedicating to awarding research grants to psychologists in the early stages of their careers. It is affiliated with the American Psychological Assoc ...

with the 2010 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement. Her award citation stated, "Her development of a theoretical rationale for the educational benefits of diversity, and supporting empirical analysis, played a pivotal role in the University of Michigan’s legal defense of its admission policies."

Biography

Gurin was born in 1932 and grew up in

Vincennes, Indiana Vincennes is a city in, and the county seat of, Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville and Terre Haute. It was founded in 1732 by F ...

. She attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

as an undergraduate, and subsequently attended graduate school at the University of Michigan where she obtained her PhD in

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

. Gurin took part in the

March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...

, August 28, 1963. She was married to Gerald Gurin for 54 years until his death in 2019; together they had two children. Early in her career, Gurin and her husband collaborated on research on Black youth that led to creation of th
Program for Research on Black Americans
at the University of Michigan in 1976. Gurin has studied the benefits of diversity in higher education, arguing that a diverse educational setting benefits students by encouraging them to think in deeper, more complex ways. She has authored and edited several books including ''Hope and Independence: Blacks' Response to Electoral and Party Politics,'' ''Women, Politics and Change'', and ''Defending Diversity: Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan.'' The University of Michigan National Center for Institutional Diversity awarded Gurin the James S. Jackson Distinguished Career Award for Diversity Scholarship in 2019. The Patricia Gurin Certificate of Merit in Intergroup Relations is awarded annually to University of Michigan students who demonstrate academic excellence in the field of

intergroup relations Intergroup relations refers to interactions between individuals in different social groups, and to interactions taking place between the groups themselves collectively. It has long been a subject of research in social psychology, political psycho ...

Representative publications

* Gurin, P. (1999). Expert report of Patricia Gurin. ''Michigan Journal of Race and Law'', ''5''(1), 363–425. *Gurin, P. (1985). Women's gender consciousness. ''Public Opinion Quarterly'', ''49''(2), 143–163. *Gurin, P., Dey, E., Hurtado, S., & Gurin, G. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory and impact on educational outcomes. ''Harvard Educational Review'', ''72''(3), 330–367. *Gurin, P., Gurin, G., & Morrison, B. M. (1978). Personal and ideological aspects of internal and external control. ''Social Psychology, 41''(4), 275–296. *Gurin, P., Nagda, B. R. A., & Lopez, G. E. (2004). The benefits of diversity in education for democratic citizenship. ''Journal of Social Issues'', ''60''(1), 17–34.

References

External links

Faculty homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurin, Patricia American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists University of Michigan Department of Psychology faculty Social psychologists Affirmative action in the United States Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists