Sargent pikantuk B.A.ipun saking University of California, Berkeley nalika taun 1964 lan Ph.D.nipun saking Harvard nalika taun 1968. Piyambakipun naté ngajar wonten ing University of Pennsylvania (1970–1971), University of Minnesota (1971–1987), University of Chicago (1991–1998), Stanford University (1998–2002) lan Princeton University (2009).