February 21, 2003

MIT's Pinker May Head Back to Harvard; Alabama Newspaper Raises Nepotism Question; Princeton Dean to Lead Kenyon College

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY and JAMILAH EVELYN

THE SHORT ROAD HOME: After 21 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Steven Pinker is considering a move back to Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1979. The invitation isn't official yet, but the professor of psychology and best-selling author on language and cognition says he expects to receive a formal offer soon.

It will be a difficult decision. Mr. Pinker, 48, says that MIT's brain and cognitive sciences department is "the world's best in brain science,"