Nancy Henley papers , 1963-2003

Dr. Nancy M. Henley was a feminist psychologist and professor who specialized in research on language and nonverbal communication; issues of gender, power, change, and semantics; psychology of women and gender; attitudes toward women and gender issues; and violence against women.

Born Nancy Eloise Main on October 27, 1934, in Palatka, Florida, Henley grew up in Washington, DC. She attended Wilson Teachers College, where she took her first psychology courses before leaving to start a family. She earned a B.S. in psychology in 1964, an M.A. in 1967, and a Ph.D. in 1968, all from Johns Hopkins University.

Henley taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County from 1968-1971, at Lowell Technological Institute/University of Lowell from 1974-1980, and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1980-1994. From 1971-1972, she was a postdoctoral researcher with Roger Brown at Harvard University. From 1980-1986, Henley served as the Director of Women's Studies at UCLA and the editor of Psychology of Women Quarterly. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Henley was one of the feminist psychologists who worked to change sexist practices and theories in the American Psychological Association (APA). Her efforts contributed to the founding of the APA's Division 35, Psychology of Women, in 1973.

Henley is the author of Body Politics: Power, Sex and Nonverbal Communication (1977) and of many journal articles and book chapters on language, nonverbal communication, and gender. Her work has earned her several awards, including the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology in 1978, the Carolyn Wood Sherif Memorial Award of Division 35 of the APA in 1985, and the Distinguished Contribution to Women in Psychology Award from the APA Committee on Women in Psychology in 1996. In 1984, Henley was named a Foremother by the Association for Women in Psychology.

Henley passed away on June 4, 2016.