Emeriti & in Memoriam
Emeriti
Please visit the Faculty page, under Professors Emeriti, for the most current information.
In Memoriam
ABE AMSEL, Ashbel Smith Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died on August 31, 2006, at the age of 83. Abe was a distinguished faculty member in the Psychology Department from 1969 until his retirement in 1999. He was elected into the National Academy of Sciences in 1992 for his extensive research on animal learning. By any measure, Abe helped develop the department into what it is now. Since 1969 Professor Amsel taught psychology classes at the University, was named the Ashbel Smith Professor in 1981, and was named professor emeritus in 1999. His research interests included behavior theory, animal learning and motivation, ontogeny and neurobiology of learning and memory. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and served on the executive committee of the Society of Experimental Psychologists. He was also awarded the Howard Crosby Warren Medal for Outstanding Research in Psychology. He was greatly admired and respected for his contributions to the field of brain-behavior relationships.
Austin American-Statesman Obituary
UT College of Liberal Arts Obituary
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Abe Amsel (pdf download)
HUGH C. BLODGETT, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died in Austin on October 15, 1972, after a long and distinguished career as teacher, research worker and administrator.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Hugh Blodgett
WADE LYNN BROWN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died on December 25, 1989. Dr. Brown became a member of the faculty of The University in 1937. He retired in 1974, after 47 years as a teacher and researcher. Professor Brown was director of radiobiology at the Balcones Research Center and also established the Primate Laboratory at the center. He contributed to the early work done in space exploration and oversaw the first flights of the rhesus monkeys. His later research focused on the effects of ionizing radiation on the central nervous system as it affects behavior and performance. Dr. Brown published 148 articles in professional journals and lectured throughout the United States and abroad.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Wade Lynn Brown
JAN H. BRUELL, Professor of Psychology, died in Austin on January 21, 1997. Dr. Bruell was recruited in 1968 to joing the behavior-genetics program being developed under Gardner Lindzey, Professor of Psychology here at the University. He became primarily interested in medical genetics and genetic counseling, and developed a chromosome laboratory. In addition to his work in behavior genetics, he pioneered the application of computers to the management of self-paced courses. He was a founding member of the Behavior Genetics Association and, from 1978–1986, served as the editor of Behavior Genetics, the major journal in the field.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Jan Bruell
CLARKE BURNHAM, Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died on March 12, 2009, at the age of 71, after a battle with lung cancer. He taught at the university for more than 40 years. Burnham earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1961 and a doctorate in psychology from Stanford University in 1965. He was a noted scholar of visual perception and cognition. From 1982 until his retirement in 2005, he guided hundreds of students in his roles as undergraduate and graduate adviser. During the last 10 years of his career at the university, Burnham served as chair for the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the board that oversees the ethical conduct of research involving humans and animals.
"In many ways, Clarke was the heart of the psychology department," said Professor James Pennebaker, chair of the psychology department. "Clarke brought a professionalism and humanity to the university's research enterprise. To give you an idea of his impact, when Clarke retired, it took six people to replace him, three faculty members in the psychology department and another three in the IRB offices. He will be sorely missed."
Professor Dennis McFadden said Burnham was well known for his wonderful deep voice, hearty laugh and perpetual smile. "He had an eagerness to talk about new findings and how they related to old findings and beliefs," McFadden said. "Clarke had an impatience with bureaucracy that led him to be an excellent advocate for students and principal investigators having technical problems with the system; he always had a solution, often an ingenious one. His breadth and depth of knowledge were truly impressive. He long will be remembered as a scholar, colleague, mentor, gentleman and family man."
...from the College of LIberal Arts "College News" obituary
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Clarke Burnham
ARNOLD BUSS, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, retired in May 2008 after 39 years of service at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Buss received his Ph.D. from Indiana University and taught at the State University of Iowa, the University of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers University before coming to UT. As a noted researcher in the area of evolutionary psychology and individual differences, he has published several books, including The Psychology of Aggression, Personality: Temperament, Social Behavior, and the Self and Psychological Dimensions of the Self.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Arnold Buss
DAVID B. COHEN, Professor of Psychology, after 32 years of teaching, research and writing, died on Sunday, January 2, 2004. Dr. Cohen taught Introductory Psychology courses as well as upper-division courses in abnormal psychology at The University of Texas at Austin from 1969–2001. He was the author of six books, including "Stranger in the Nest" and "Out of the Blue".
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for David Cohen
KARL M. DALLENBACH, Professor Emeritus and formerly Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychology, died in Austin on December 23, 1971.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Karl Dallenbach
DAVID T. HAKES, Professor of Psychology, died on October 8, 1982, in Austin. Dr. Hakes received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology in 1959 and 1969 from the University of Minnesota. Psycholinguistics was the central research interest of Dr. Hakes, who spent his entire academic career at The University of Texas at Austin, joining the faculty in 1961. Dr. Hakes designed and was the leading figure behind the founding of the Children's Research Lab. The CRL, which owes its existence to Dr. Hakes, is now an internationally renowned research laboratory for studying infants and young children.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for David Hakes
ROBERT L. HELMREICH, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and pioneer of air safety research, died on Saturday, July 7, 2012. Dr. Helmreich taught at the University from 1966–2007. As principal investigator of the Human Factors Research Project, he studied group behavior in challenging environments such as undersea exploration, aviation, space and the medical operating room. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Aviation Week and Space Technology's Distinguished Contribution to Aviation Safety Award in 1994, and the 1997 David S. Sheridan Award for distinguished service to mankind in the fields of science and medicine. He was editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and authored more than two hundred papers, chapters, books, and scientific reports. Dr. Helmreich will always be remembered as someone who demanded that psychology move beyond the narrow confines of the lab. His energy, dedication, intelligence, and humor will be missed.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Robert L. Helmreich
HARRY HELSON, Professor of Psychology at The University of Texas from 1951–1961, died in 1977. Dr. Helson served as president of the division of general psychology of the American Psychological Association and as editor of the Psychological Bulletin. In 1959 he won the Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists for outstanding research.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Harry Helson
American Journal of Psychology Obituary
WAYNE HOLTZMAN, Hogg Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Statistics, died on January 23, 2019, at age 96. Prof. Holtzman joined the faculty of the UT Psychology Department in 1949 and retired in 1993. During his long tenure at The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Holtzman held positions as president of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, dean of the College of Education, chairman of the university's Faculty Computer Committee and chairman of the Laboratory for Computer-Assisted Instruction.
Dr. Holtzman's distinguished career also allowed him to serve as president of the Interamerican Society of Psychology, the Texas Psychological Association and International Union of Psychological Science. He was chairman of the board of The Menninger Clinic and has been a trustee of The Menninger Foundation since 1982. He was also director of the World Health Organizations' Texas-Mexico Collaborating Center in Mental Health. Dr. Holtzman is the author of over 210 articles in scientific journals and served as editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology.
The Holtzman Inkblot Test (HIT) was conceived by Wayne Holtzman and colleagues. It was first introduced in 1961 as a projective personality test similar to the Rorschach test, yet unlike the Rorschach, the HIT is a standardized measurement with clearly defined objective scoring criteria. The Holtzman Inkblot Test was invented as an attempt to address many, if not all, of the controversial issues surrounding the Rorschach Inkblot Test. Read more about the HIT on Wikipedia.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Wayne Holtzman
JOSEPH M. HORN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, retired from The University of Texas Psychology Department in May 2006, after 37 years. His research has been conducted in the areas of behavior genetics, personality, individual differences, and vocational behavior. Dr. Horn was one of the first to demonstrate that genetics played a major role in the development of personality among adopted children. His work with Lee Willerman and John Loehlin on the Texas Adoption Project has had a significant impact in psychology, education, and other areas. His work has been published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Behavior Genetics, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Child Development, Personality and Individual Differences, and many more.
After obtaining his BA from Oklahoma State University and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1969, he came to The University of Texas as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1975, and then to professor in 1984. During his tenure, he served as the creator and director of the Liberal Arts Honors program (1988–1996), the Assistant Chair of the Department of Psychology (1972–1977), the Director of Clinical Training (1977–1979), and the Associate Dean (1980–1990) of the College of Liberal Arts. He received numerous awards in the course of his long, productive career, including the National Association of Scholars Barry R. Gross Award for Outstanding Service, and the University's President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award. He also served as Treasurer of the Behavior Genetics Association, Vice President of the National Association of Scholars, and was a member of the Editorial Board for Acta Geneticae Medicae Gemillologiae.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Joseph Horn
IRA ISCOE, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education, Ashbel Smith Professor and former head of the Liberal Arts Plan II program, died in Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2015, at the age of 94. Dr. Iscoe joined The University of Texas Psychology faculty in 1951 and was instrumental in developing the Clinical Training Psychology Program and for its accreditation by the American Psychological Association. He retired in 1996 after 45 years at UT Austin. He was a fixture on the UT campus until 2014 when he and his wife Louise moved from Austin to the D.C. area to be near two of their grown children.
Iscoe served as the director of The University of Texas Counseling and Psychological Center (now called The Counseling and Mental Health Center) from 1968–78, as well as organized and headed the department’s Community Psychology Area starting in 1972. For more than 15 years the Community Area focused on training students in community mental health practice and research, with training centered on Crisis Theory. He was also director of the UT Institute of Human Development and Family Studies from 1978–1994.
Austin American-Statesman Obituary
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Ira Iscoe
To give to the Ira and Louise Iscoe Endowed Fund in Psychology, please click here.
LLOYD A. JEFFRESS, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and eminent researcher in the field of psychoacoustics, died in 1986. He served on the faculty in the Department of Psychology from 1926–1977. Dr. Jeffress was elected Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and served from 1962–1970 as Associatae Editor for Psychological Acoustics. In 1977, he was awarded the Silver Medal by the Acoustical Society of America for his extensive contributions in psychoacoustics.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Lloyd Jeffress
DAVID B. KLEIN, Professor of Psychology at the University from 1923–1948, died in 1983. He was a prolific author, served on the executive committee of the Mental Hygiene Society, and was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for David Klein
GARDNER LINDZEY, Professor of Psychology, died February 4, 2008 after a brief illness. Dr. Lindzey was chair of the Department of Psychology from 1964–1969 and then served as one of UT's vice presidents until 1975. He was instrumental in transforming the department from a relatively small and unassuming group to a large and internationally-recognized faculty.
Dr. Lindzey was known for his work in social and personality psychology. His edited Handbook of Social Psychology defined the structure of the field for a generation. As the director and president of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto from 1975 to 1989, he brought together the finest intellects in the social and behavioral sciences.
Dr. Lindzey earned his AB degree at Pennsylvania State University in 1943, his MS in 1945, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1949. He served as president of the American Psychological Association 1966–67 and as president of the American Psychological Foundation 1974–1976. He received an award for scientific reviewing from the National Academy of Sciences and the Dobzhansky Memorial Award for Eminent Research in Behavior Genetics in 1982.
JOHN LOEHLIN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Computer Science at the University from 1964-1992, died in 2020. His research chiefly focused on the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in normal human personality traits and abilities; he was also concerned with racial differences and with computer modeling. He was involved in several twin family, and adoption studies, including the National Merit Twin Study with R. C. Nichols, an Israeli family study of spatial abilities with S. Sharan and R. Jacoby, and the Texas Adoption Project with Joseph M. Horn and Lee Willerman. He also served as president of the Behavior Genetics Association and of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for John Loehlin
CLIFFORD T. MORGAN, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, died in 1976. He was Chair of Psychology at Johns Hopkins University from 1946–1954, and eventually joined the Psychology faculty at The University of Texas at Austin in 1968. He was noted for his contributions in the field of experimental psychology. He was the founding father and first chairman of the Psychonomic Society, a society devoted to psychology as a scientific discipline.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Clifford T. Morgan
FLEMING A. C. PERRIN, Professor of Psychology, died in 1944. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and later joined The University of Texas at Austin in 1917 when psychology and philosophy were in the same department.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Fleming Perrin
NORMAN "JIM" PRENTICE, Professor of Psychology at the University since 1965, died in 2000. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University in 1956, he became a clinical psychologist and fellow in clinical psychology at Judge Baker Guidance Center, in Boston, which was affiliated with Harvard Medical School. While director of child clinical psychology at Harvard University he published some of the first research in the field of learning disabilities.
In 1965, Prentice was recruited by Gardner Lindzey to became associate professor of child clinical psychology at the University, and in 1970 became director of the clinical psychology training program. He became a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology (the highest recognition for clinical competence that can be achieved), and a lifetime member of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, serving for a number of years on its board. Dr. Prentice also served as a consultant at the Austin Child Guidance Center, the Travis County Juvenile Court, and the Veterans Administration Hospitals in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Temple and Waco.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Norman Prentice
JUAN SALINAS, Psychology Lecturer at the University since 2000, died on September 8, 2018, at the age of 51. Dr. Salinas obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Department of Psychobiology in 1994 at University of California–Irvine. He taught Introduction to Psychology every year at UT, thus influencing many students, who were inspired by their caring teacher with "an acute sense of humor and a big heart," as stated by Psychology Chair Jacqui Wooley. The focus of his research had been the neurobiology and neuropharmacology of learning and memory in general, with a particular interest in the neural basis of learning about failed expectations of reward as a model system for studying how multiple memory systems in the mammalian brain interact to guide and direct behavior.
FILLMORE H. SANFORD, Professor of Psychology at the University since 1957, died in 1967. Dr. Stanford authored numerous publications, and served as editor of Contemporary Psychology, A Journal of Book Reviews in 1962. He also served as president of the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Fillmore Sanford
BERNARD SAPER, Professor Emeritus of Psychology (Florida International University), died in 2006. Dr. Saper practiced, consulted, and taught psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, Albany Medical College and the University of Maine/Orono.
TIMOTHY J. SCHALLERT, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Neurobiology, and the Institute for Neuroscience, died on May 29, 2018, at the age of 68. Dr. Schallert came to The University of Texas at Austin in 1979, after earning his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 1976, and becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Canadian Center for Behaviour and Brain at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Schallert was elected to the UT Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 1998, the highest teaching honor of the university, and received several other teaching awards, including the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award and the Amoco Foundation Teaching Award. He served on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Neuroscience and as the Graduate Advisor for the Neuroscience Ph.D. program. He was Associate Chairman of the Dept. of Psychology from 1985–1994. He was also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and The Center for Human Growth and Development. He was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, and the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Timothy Schallert
Society for Neuroscience Obituary
DEVENDRA SINGH, a distinguished faculty member in the Department of Psychology and noted evolutionary psychologist, passed away May 18, 2010. Dr. Singh was born in India in 1938 and completed his M.A. in Psychology at Agra University, Agra India in 1961. He obtained his Ph.D. (Experimental-Physiological Psychology) from Ohio State University in 1966. Dr. Singh held teaching positions at Wright State University and North Dakota State University before coming to The University of Texas in 1969.
Austin American-Statesman Obituary | Devendra Singh Remembered
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Devendra Singh
JANET T. SPENCE, Alma Cowden Madden Professorship of Liberal Arts and the Ashbel Smith Professorship of Psychology and Educational Psychology, died on Cape Cod on March 16, 2015. A major figure in American psychology, she was a faculty member of our department from 1967 to 1997 and served as Chair from 1969 to 1972. She retired from UT after the Spring 1997 semester. A 1949 Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, Dr. Spence's early work made seminal contributions to theories of the influence of anxiety on learning and performance, as well as the study of the effects of material incentives on intrinsic motivation. In the late 1960s, Dr. Spence turned her attention to gender research.
In the 1970s, Dr. Spence developed several psychological measures that became standard, widely used instruments in the field of Psychology, including the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS). Her conclusion that masculinity and femininity are separate unipolar dimensions, rather than opposite ends of a bipolar trait, remains the authoritative finding in this matter. Dr. Spence holds the unique position of being the only person to be elected president of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. In fact, she holds the honor of being the first member-elected president of APS. In 2009, the APS Board of Directors established the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions to “recognize transformative contributions to psychological science by rising stars in the field.” After retiring, Dr. Spence moved to Cape Cod, where she managed a variety of academic and editorial responsibilities, including her role as Editor of the Annual Review of Psychology.
Videos from 3-part oral history interview with Dr. James Pennebaker (2008)
Janet T. Spence Outstanding Teaching Assistant & Outstanding Assistant Instructor Awards
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Janet T. Spence
KENNETH W. SPENCE, Professor of Psychology since 1964, died in 1967. He had been head of the Psychology Department at the University of Iowa for 22 years. He made many notable contributions to the field of learning and motivation and was a prominent and influential researcher for many years. Dr. Spence was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1956 was given the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Kenneth Spence
DELBERT THIESSEN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died in 2022. He studied at the University of Denver and San Jose State University, completing his Ph.D. in biopsychology at the University of California at Berkeley. He then did research at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California before taking a position at The University of Texas at Austin. He published five books on behavior genetics and over 250 articles in animal and human behavior.
WALTER WILCZYNSKI,Professor of Psychology since 1983, died in 2020. Dr. Walter Wilczynski was a faculty member in the Psychology Department from 1983 until 2005. He joined the department as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, maintaining joint appointments in the Department of Zoology’s Section of Neurobiology and Section of Integrative Biology. While at UT, Walt served as Undergraduate Advisor in the Department, Graduate Advisor for the Institute of Neuroscience as well as Head of the Behavioral Neuroscience Area, and he helped form the Institute for Neuroscience. He left UT for Georgia State University in 2005 as a professor in the Psychology Department where he served as Co-Director of Georgia State University's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Walter Wilczynski
LEE WILLERMAN, Professor of Psychology since 1971, died in 1997. He was an eminent researcher in the field of intelligence and how it is related to both genetic and environmental factors. He also contributed to important research in the areas of personality and psychopathology. For more than 25 years he worked with colleagues Joseph Horn and John Loehlin on the Texas Adoption Project.
Faculty Council Memorial Resolution for Lee Willerman
ROBERT K. YOUNG, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, died at age 92 on January 17, 2022. Dr. Young was well known for his expertise in statistics and psychometrics, and as a popular teacher of statistics courses. Young, whose other interests included social and industrial psychology, and distance learning, developed a successful mentoring program to encourage women students-especially those from minority groups-to attend graduate school. He joined the faculty in 1956 and retired in 1998.
