Julie Lythcott-Haims

Julie Lythcott-Haims (born 1967) is an American educator, author, and politician. She has written three non-fiction books: How to Raise an Adult, on parenting; Real American, a memoir; and Your Turn: How to Be an Adult. She served as dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising at Stanford University. She is a member of the Palo Alto city council.

Early life

Lythcott-Haims was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1967 and moved with her parents to the United States in 1969. Her father, George Ignatius Lythcott, was a pediatrician, a professor at Columbia University, the Edward Jenner Professor of Public Health at UW Madison and served as Assistant Surgeon General under President Jimmy Carter. Her mother, Jean Snookes, is a retired teacher and professor of education at Columbia University Teachers College.

Lythcott-Haims grew up in small towns in New York, Wisconsin, and Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.

Career

University administrator

Lythcott-Haims is the former dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, and former associate vice provost for undergraduate education at Stanford University. While at Stanford, she was the 2010 winner of the Dinkelspiel Award for contributions to undergraduate education. She held various positions with the university for 14 years until leaving in 2012. At the time, the stated reason for leaving Stanford was her plan to pursue an MFA degree. She also stepped down from three education-related committees on which she had previously served on the Palo Alto City Council.

While the "inappropriate" relationship was not forbidden at the time, it was "discouraged", and in 2013 Stanford updated its policies to forbid such relationships.

Author

Lythcott-Haims' 2015 book, How to Raise an Adult, was a New York Times best-seller on the education list. The book cautions parents against micromanaging, or helicopter parenting their children. It argues that this parenting style prevents them from developing independence and resilience as adults and can negatively impact their mental health.

Her 2017 memoir, Real American, describes coming to terms with her racial identity. Her father was a prominent African American physician, her mother white and British, and she was the only non-white student in her high school graduating class. Real American won the 2018 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award.

In November 2022, Lythcott-Haims was elected to the Palo Alto city council.

In 2023, Lythcott-Haims announced her candidacy for California's 16th congressional district in the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections. In the nonpartisan primary on March 5, 2024, she finished in eighth place, thereby failing to reach the general election.

Personal life

Lythcott-Haims has two adult children and is married to Dan Lythcott-Haims. She lives in Palo Alto, California.