Sian Leah Beilock: Chautauqua Institution Lecture Series
Route 394, Chautauqua, NY 14722
Sian Leah Beilock is the 19th president of Dartmouth College, and the first woman in the role in Dartmouth’s 255-year history. In her first year, she has positioned Dartmouth as a global leader on critical issues in higher education and beyond, including climate change and sustainability, affordability for middle-income families and championing the importance of dialogue across differences. It is this vision of creating educational environments where different ideas flourish that Beilock brings to the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week dedicated to “Themes of Transformation: Forces Shaping Our Tomorrow.”
Under Beilock’s leadership, Dartmouth has launched the first-of-its-kind “Dartmouth Dialogues” initiative, which facilitates conversations and skills that bridge political and personal divides; creates a culture where all students are able to engage with viewpoints and perspectives different than their own; and in turn, advances meaningful debate and conversations on the most pressing issues of our time.
A distinguished cognitive scientist, Beilock is also one of the world’s foremost experts on performance under pressure. Among her honors for that work are a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as well as the author of 120 peer-reviewed papers and two critically-acclaimed books — Choke and How The Body Knows Its Mind — published in more than a dozen languages. Her 2017 TED Talk on performing under pressure has been viewed more than 2.7 million times.
Beilock earned her bachelor of science in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego, and doctorate degrees in psychology and kinesiology from Michigan State University.