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William Damon

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND SENIOR FELLOW, BY COURTESY, AT THE HOOVER INSTITUTION

Bio

William Damon is Professor of Education at Stanford University, Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution. He is one of the world's leading researchers on the development of purpose. He is the author of The Path to Purpose. Damon's other books include The Moral Child; Greater Expectations (winner of the Parent's Choice Book Award); Some Do Care: Lives of Moral Commitment (with Anne Colby); Good Work (with Howard Gardner and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi); and The Power of Ideals: The Real Story of Moral Choice (also with Anne Colby). Damon’s present work includes a study that explores the development of purpose in the college years and a study of family purposes across generations. Damon has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Academic Appointments 

Administrative Appointments 

  • Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace (1999 - Present)

  • Professor of Education, Stanford Graduate School of Education (1997 - Present)

  • Director, Stanford Center on Adolescence (1997 - Present)

Honors & Awards 

  • Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015 -)

  • Fellow, American Educational Research Association (2007 -)

  • Member, National Academy of Education (2004 -)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations 

  • Associate Professor of Psychology, Clark University (1978 - 1982)

  • Elected Member, National Academy of Education (2000 - Present)

  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014 - Present)

  • University Professor, Brown University (1996 - 1998)

  • The Mittlemann Family Director, Center for the Study of Human Development (1992 - 1998)

  • Chair of Education, Brown University (1989 - 1992)

  • Professor of Education, Brown University (1989 - 1998)

  • Chair of Education, Clark University (1988 - 1989)

  • Dean of the Graduate School, Clark University (1983 - 1987)

  • Professor of Psychology, Clark University (1982 - 1989)

  • Assistant Professor of Psychology, Clark University (1973 - 1978)

All Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations (11)

Professional Education 

  • PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Developmental Psychology (1973)

  • BA, Harvard University (1967)