Dr. Janet Polivy - Academics

Janet’s master’s project examined women’s view of their own feminine self image after a radical mastectomy. For her PhD, Janet studied women’s body image in the face of dieting. She wondered why, like her mother, so many women committed to strict diets but ended up sneaking food and overeating.

Before finishing her doctorate, Dr. Polivy was offered a position at the Loyola University in Chicago. She accepted on the condition that she would finish her PhD that summer. She said, “It was not my life plan. I did not say, ‘Oh I’m going to be a professor in 6 years’ when I went off to University.” But in 1974, Dr. Polivy began teaching at Loyola University.