Rate My Professor Deborah Prentice

Professor Deborah Prentice is the 347th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, having taken up the position on 1 July 2023. An eminent psychologist, she previously spent her entire academic and administrative career at Princeton University, which she joined in 1988. She rose through the ranks to become the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, chairing the Department of Psychology for twelve years, serving as Dean of the Faculty for three years, and serving as Provost for six years with responsibility for academic, budgetary, and long-term planning issues. She taught in both the psychology department and the policy school.

Professor Prentice received her undergraduate degree in human biology and music from Stanford University in 1984 and her PhD in psychology from Yale University in 1989. Her academic expertise is in the study of social norms that govern human behaviour, particularly how norms function as inhibitors and facilitators of behaviour change, the impact and development of unwritten rules and conventions, and responses to breaches of those rules; she has specialised in areas including domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and gender stereotypes. She has edited three academic volumes and published more than fifty articles and chapters. As Vice-Chancellor, she chairs the University Council and serves on the boards of Cambridge University Health Partners, Cambridge Ahead, and the Russell Group, while representing the University on bodies including the League of European Research Universities and the International Alliance of Research Universities. She continues to lecture on her research topics in Cambridge and elsewhere. She is also a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.