We had a number of wonderful things happen when I was president. Difficult times, some difficulties that needed to be addressed. But I think already we've talked about my style and my style is conversation. And I mean, what could be more fun than being released into the community of MIT to have conversations? I mean, fantastic. I mean, wonderful things, interesting people. No one operates entirely outside of self-interest, but of course that's being human. So, when I arrived, I kind of quickly realized that I needed to ask roughly the same question all the time, because otherwise I would not be able to gather up the answers together in a meaningful way. And after a couple of false tries, I realized that the best, most productive question for me to ask is: what do you love about MIT that you wish we did more of?

When I asked them what needed fixing, of course, then I'd get a long list of things, some of which could fix. I kept track of those too and we ended up fixing it. And, actually, the big fixes were things that most people were not as acutely tuned to that I was. But in any case, so in this what we often call listening tour, I don't want to, it's a conversation tour, it's a delight.

Susan Hockfield is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on brain development and glioma, pioneering the use of monoclonal antibody technology demonstrating that early experience results in lasting changes in the molecular structure of the brain. She is a Professor of Neuroscience and President Emerita at MIT. She was the first woman and life scientist to serve as MIT’s sixteenth president from 2004-2012.

Hockfield earned her B.A. in biology from the University of Rochester (1973) and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University at the School of Medicine (1979). In 1980, Hockfield completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. She then joined the scientific staff at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York where she ran her own lab for five years. She also served as director of the Summer Neurobiology Program from 1985 to 1997. In 1985, Hockfield became the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology at Yale University. She went on to serve as the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 1998-2002, and Provost from 2003-2004.

In December 2004, Hockfield assumed office as the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She held this role until June 2012 and continues to hold a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience and as a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

Hockfield has received numerous awards including the Charles Judson Herrick Award from the American Association of Anatomists, the Wilbur Lucius Cross Award from the Yale University Graduate School, the Meliora Citation from the University of Rochester, the Amelia Earhart Award from the Women’s Union, and the Yale Science and Engineering Association 2021 Award for Distinguished Service to Industry, Commerce or Education.

She also holds honorary degrees from Brown University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, Northeastern University, Tsinghua University (Beijing), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, University of Edinburgh, University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Rochester, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences.