Passing of Two Ph.D. Alumni: Judy Shapiro and Sam Sommers

Sadly, we have lost two Michigan social psychology Ph.D. recipients in recent months.

Judy Shapiro was in the same entering cohort as I was in Fall 1984. Her sharp, critical intelligence always stood out to me and I enjoyed interacting with her. Judy was interested in base-rate reasoning when she arrived, but completed her 1991 dissertation on self-esteem and helping. Judy remained in the Ann Arbor area for many years, teaching at various local colleges, before moving to Florida. An obituary is available here.

Sam Sommers came through the Michigan program around 13 years after my cohort, finishing his Ph.D. in 2002. Despite the fact we did not overlap at Michigan, I felt some common bonds. Sam worked with Phoebe Ellsworth, who was also one of my advisors, and Sam and I each wrote sports-related books (here and here). I don't remember if I ever met Sam in person, but we definitely e-mailed a bit. Sam's obituary from Tufts University, where he was a professor, is available here.

Shinobu Kitayama Receives APA Distinguished Scientific Career Award

Shinobu Kitayama, who received his graduate training at Michigan from 1982-1987 and then served on the faculties of the University of Oregon (1988-1993) and Kyoto University (1993-2003) before returning to UM in 2003, recently was announced as a recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Career (DSC) Award. APA honors only three DSC recipients each year (occasionally more, if a long-collaborating duo is among the recipients). Considering the many subfields of psychology and the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of researchers out there, the DSC is truly a rare recognition. Interestingly, one of this year's other recipients is Susan Gelman, a Michigan faculty member in developmental psychology since 1984. The DSC definitely has a maize and blue tint this year!

Shinobu, a one-time office-mate of your trusty blogger, conducted social-cognition research early in his graduate training, before switching to cross-cultural psychology and co-authoring the landmark Markus and Kitayama (1991) article, which was published in Psychological Review. The rest, as they say, is history, with Shinobu generating a huge output of cross-cultural research over the next 30 years (Google Scholar profile).

Of the UM social-psychology graduate students who were around from roughly 1984-1989 (either in my cohort, a little older, or a little younger), Shinobu is the first to win a DSC award (John Bargh, a 1981 Ph.D., won the DSC in 2014). See list of DSC recipients.

Several faculty members whose time at UM spanned the eighties (and in some cases, much longer) have also received  DSC recognition: Bob Zajonc (at Michigan from 1955-1994, DSC in 1978), Dick Nisbett (1971- 2017, now emeritus; DSC in 1991), Claude Steele (1987-1991, DSC 2003), and Hazel Markus (1975-1994, DSC 2008).

Professor James Jackson (1944-2020)

By now, most people in the UM social psychology community are probably aware of the September 1 passing of Professor James Jackson, a fixture at the university since the early 1970s. James' career is summarized in this New York Times article (link) that came out a few days ago. I noted in a Facebook posting that:

James was the social psych graduate-program director at Michigan the year my cohort entered (Fall 1984). He met with us every week, sharing his warmth and career-development advice with us. He also led the pioneering National Survey of Black Americans.

(James's research with the NSBA, in fact, was a major point of emphasis in the Times article.)

Comments to my Facebook posting included the following:

• I wasn’t in the social area, but that didn’t stop James from meeting with me when I had some questions, and greeting me with warmth and interest in how I was doing every time our paths crossed at UM, and through the years following. 
• Such sad news. James was a pioneer in so many ways, and an amazing mentor to multiple generations of students. He always greeted us with a warm smile, and helped establish the supportive, collaborative environment at Michigan. 
• At some event for students, James said, "You get a PhD because you have a love affair with knowledge." That's not the exact quote, but I still repeat those words of wisdom to my own students. 
• I caught up with James just a few years ago (2018) at the [American Public Health Association] annual meeting. He gave the most thought provoking talk and was so warm and cordial when I went up to speak with him afterwards. He was there to receive the Rema Lapousse award for outstanding contribution to psychiatric epidemiology. 
• He was a wonderful colleague and my heart goes out to Toni and their two daughters, Ariana and Kendra.
• Very sorry to hear this! I caught up with James a decade ago, and it was great to see him. He was happy and healthy and kidding around like always. Such sad news!! 
• So sorry about this. I have terrific memories of James. 
• James was always super-nice. I'm so sorry to hear he is gone. 
• This is so sad to hear; James was always so warm to the grad students of color. He was a balm for our experience. 
• So so sad. He was the social area chair when my cohort came in. He mentored us, humored us, taught us and even partied with us!

A picture I took with James in 2009, when I was visiting campus for a small academic conference, appears in this older posting.

New Book by Bill von Hippel

Bill von Hippel, who received his Ph.D. in social psych at Michigan in 1990 and now is a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, has a new book out, entitled The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy. I first learned about the book a few weeks ago when I saw it sitting on a new-arrivals shelf at my local Barnes & Noble in Lubbock, Texas!

Top Journals' Editorial Ranks Filled with 80s Michigan Ph.D. Holders

If you're actively submitting manuscripts to top social-personality psychology journals, there's a good chance your paper has crossed -- or will cross -- the desk of a 1980s' U-M Ph.D. recipient. Graduates from that era have served as head or associate editors of journals for 20 years or more. It's just that now, the Maize and Blue influence seems greater than it's been in a long time.

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the national office of the American Psychological Association, has long been regarded as the top empirical outlet in the field. Since the start of 2017, Shinobu Kitayama has edited JPSP's Attitudes and Social Cognition section (one of three). Shinobu, a one-time office-mate of mine and a 1987 Michigan Ph.D., returned to U-M as a faculty member around 2004, after serving on the faculties of the University of Oregon and Kyoto University (Japan). An interview with Shinobu on his vision for his section appears here.

Chris Crandall is editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the flagship empirical journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Chris finished his Ph.D. at Michigan the same year as Shinobu and, as a further coincidence, also began his editorship at the outset of 2017. Chris has been on the faculty at the University of Kansas since 1992.

The Society for Personality and Social Psychology also publishes Personality and Social Psychology Review, an outlet for pieces that integrate prior research in a given area and propound new theoretical directions.Who edits PSPR? None other than Monica Biernat, a 1989 U-M Ph.D., who is finishing up the four-year term she began in 2014. Monica has also been on the Kansas faculty since 1992.

Finally, Bill von Hippel, a 1990 Michigan Ph.D. and current faculty member at the University of Queensland in Australia, is an associate editor for Psychological Science, the flagship empirical journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Krosnick Wins AAPOR Lifetime Achievement Award

Jon Krosnick, a 1985 Ph.D. from the social psych program at Michigan, has been awarded the American Association for Public Opinion Research's lifetime achievement award. A faculty member at Stanford (and before that at Ohio State), Jon has been a leading figure in survey-research methodology and the study of attitudes, in particular. In 2007, I wrote on this blog about Jon's appearance before a Congressional committee on the use of survey methods to gather systematic data from airline pilots on risk-elevating events (e.g., "miscommunications between pilots and air traffic controllers, disturbances caused by passengers, bird strikes, or aircraft flying too close to one another"). Congrats to Jon!

Biernat Named PSPR Editor

Monica Biernat, a member of the same entering graduate-school cohort with me (1984, graduating in '89) and a professor for the last 22 years at the University of Kansas, has been named the new editor of Personality and Social Psychology Review. Congrats to Monica!

My First-Year Graduate Dorm Closing

An "e-True Blue" e-mail newsletter today from the UM Alumni Association includes the item that the Baits I (but not the Baits II) housing complex on the North Campus will close down. I lived in one of the Baits I buildings (Parker House) during my first year of graduate school (1984-85), before moving to a series of apartments in the Central Campus area for years 2 through 5 of my graduate training.

This Michigan Daily article on the closure includes a picture of the complex. The article alludes to one of the current Baits residents being a sophomore. Back in the day, as I recall, Baits was a primarily, if not exclusively, graduate-student complex (apparently, it also accommodated upper-level undergrads, as I've now discovered). According to the article, Baits I would have required at least $6 million in renovations, which the powers-that-be do not feel is a prudent investment. Also, Baits I does not meet the university's goal of having "complexes within five minutes of a residential dining hall."

The last claim is totally valid. The nearest dorm with a dining hall was Bursley, which I recall being a lot longer than a five-minute walk. As shown on this map, Baits II is a lot closer to Bursley than is Baits I. Usually, I would have dinner at one of the restaurants in the Central Campus area on my way home, after a day of work at the office.

Jussim Quoted in Academic Austerity Article

Lee Jussim, a 1987 Ph.D. recipient from the social psych program at Michigan, was quoted this past week by Bloomberg News, regarding how academic programs at Rutgers University in New Jersey are facing major budget cuts while the athletic department continues to furnish what many would consider lavish benefits to its coaches.

With specific regard to the Rutgers Psychology Department, which Lee chairs, he told Bloomberg that: “The cuts are sufficiently severe... that our ability to accomplish our core missions are, for the first time in my career, under serious threat.”

Sadly, Lee's department is not alone in having to watch things such as the number of photocopies made and provision of Scantron forms for multiple-choice exams. My department at Texas Tech is dealing with similar issues, as are many other institutions (just do a Google search on "university budget cuts").

Borders Books Declares Bankruptcy

Not that it came as a surprise, but yesterday it was announced that the Borders bookstore company had filed for bankruptcy. Borders, of course, was founded in Ann Arbor 40 years ago, before going national around 20 years ago. Not only was Borders a great place for UM students and other Ann Arborites to hang out. For myself (and perhaps others whose careers took them away from Ann Arbor), visiting a Borders in any city provided a little reminder of Michigan days.

Many, though not all, Borders locations have been closed in recent years. My home base of Lubbock, Texas has never had a Borders (at least in the 14 years I've been on the faculty at Texas Tech University), so I've mainly visited locations in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas for the past decade and a half. No longer will that be possible, as L.A. and Chicago seem to have had all their Borders stores wiped out.

The current flagship Borders on Ann Arbor's Liberty St. (which is where the store settled after moving between State St. and other nearby locations) remains open. I hope that even if the national company goes belly-up, the Ann Arbor location can survive.

Niedenthal Featured in New York Times

Today's New York Times features the research of Paula Niedenthal, who received her Ph.D. at Michigan in 1987 and since the late 1990s has been on the faculty at Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France. The focus of the Times article is a new theory of smiling developed by Paula and her colleagues, which "[t]hey believe ... can account not only for the source of smiles, but how people perceive them."

Village Corner Shuts Down South U Store

From the December issue of the Ann Arbor Observer comes word that Village Corner, a mainstay for 40 years at the corner of S. University and S. Forest, closed in early November and is now in "hibernation," pending a move to a still-to-be-found new location. VC's website details the situation and notes that "The December 2010 issue of Ann Arbor Observer misquoted Dick [Scheer, the owner] as stating we're 'shooting for a reopening in a new location sometime in 2012.' In fact, we plan to reopen in a matter of weeks, not months or years." VC and the adjacent bicycle store are giving way to a new high-rise student apartment complex.

For those not familiar with VC (and it's hard to imagine many Ann Arborites would fall into that category), it was a store that defied easy labels. It was like a convenience store, but much bigger, or like a supermarket, but much smaller. It was also said to have one of the Midwest's finest and most extensive wine collections. My memories of VC include always seeing copious supplies of flyers for upcoming campus-area events tacked up by the entrances, and the local public radio station playing world music in the background.

Living in the South U area my second year of grad school, I frequently popped into VC, either to pick up a snack of, say, orange juice and a brownie, or for a few days' groceries. Along with VC, other South U neighborhood establishments of my grad-school days, such as Pizzeria Uno, the Bagel Factory, and Community Newscenter (bookstore), are gone.

Warsaw Conference Honors Zajonc

Back on May 13-14 of this year, a conference was held in Warsaw, Poland to celebrate the career of the late Bob Zajonc. The conference organizers now have videos, still photos, and abstracts from the event up on a website. Several Michigan faculty (current, relocated, and retired) and graduates of the Ph.D. program participated. There's also a Facebook group honoring Bob, which is where I learned of the conference page.

Claude Steele's Book "Whistling Vivaldi"

I recently finished reading the book Whistling Vivaldi, by Claude Steele. Claude's brief stint as a professor at Michigan (1987-1991) overlapped partially with my cohort's time and I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten to know him as part of my graduate training.

Though Claude spent the better part of the last 20 years at Stanford (before recently moving to Columbia University to become provost), he writes at considerable length about his time in Ann Arbor. It was at UM, in fact, that his interest in, and initial research on, stereotyped group members' college underperformance (relative to these students' entering academic credentials) really crystallized.

This research is well-known within social psychology (and beyond) under the rubric of stereotype threat. In the book, Claude details several stages of stereotype-threat research he, his students, and outside investigators have undertaken over the past 20 years. In discussing research from his own lab, Claude talks about many of the graduate students who've worked with him, including Steve Spencer. Now a professor at Canada's University of Waterloo, Steve was in on the ground floor of stereotype-threat research at Michigan and remains very active in this area. Chris Crandall, who completed his doctoral studies at Michigan shortly before Claude's arrival and has independently done research pertinent to stereotype threat, is also cited throughout the book.

Pat Gurin Wins APF Award for Work in the Public Interest

While leafing through my copy of the new (July-August 2010) American Psychologist, I saw that Pat Gurin had won the American Psychological Foundation's Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest (announcement). The APF appears to be affiliated with the American Psychological Association (APA), with a focus on fundraising and grant awards to conduct research and provide services with a prosocial aim. The write-up accompanying Pat's award citation focuses on her research on the benefits of diversity in higher education (which was used in the University of Michigan's defense, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, of its affirmative action programs) and on her mentoring of students from diverse backgrounds. As the summary also notes, Pat is officially retired, but remains active at Michigan with "intergroup dialogue" research, a nine-university project.

Former UM President Fleming Dead at 93

Former UM president Robben Fleming has died at age 93. As I previously wrote about, Fleming participated in the Group Dynamics Seminar during my first semester of grad school (Fall 1984).

25th Anniversary of My Cohort Entering Grad School

Last week, I went to Ann Arbor for a small academic conference. The timing couldn't have been any better, as this fall semester marks the 25th anniversary of when my cohort and I began graduate school at U of M. I took extensive photos on this recent visit, featuring some of the important people and locations from 1984, but also conveying the changes that have made the U of M what it is in 2009. One constant, of course, is the beautiful array of fall colors...


Across the top is a shot of the UM Diag, which I entered from the southwest corner. Arranged clockwise, the next picture shows a walkway behind (west of) the Social Work and Education buildings going toward the Business School; followed by a view from the Rackham Graduate School's fourth-floor patio, looking toward the North Ingalls Building. (You can click on all of the photos displayed in this entry to enlarge them.)

The only barber who has ever cut my hair in Ann Arbor is Bill, with whom I'm pictured below by one of the chairs at State St. Barber Shop (OK, maybe once or twice an associate of Bill's in the same shop gave me a haircut). I was a regular from 1984-1989 and, as I've visited Ann Arbor every few years since then, I've made it a point to get a haircut from Bill every time. This last trip was no exception. As can be seen, Bill has the shop all decked out in Michigan athletic paraphernalia, including the jerseys of many great Wolverines of modern history.


Another important figure from 1984 with whom I touched base is Professor James Jackson. When my cohort entered grad school, James was serving as social psychology program director, so part of his job was to hold a weekly seminar for us neophytes, where he would socialize us into the field, see how each of us was doing with our respective first-year projects (on which we worked primarily with our individual advisors), and just make sure we were all doing OK in general.


Back in '84 -- and all through my time in grad school, in fact -- there was no central psychology building, with each program (e.g., clinical, developmental, biopsychology) housed in a different location on campus. Social psych was housed in the Institute for Social Research (ISR; on top in the montage below). In '84, before Engineering completed its move to North Campus, there was a building on East University next to Ulrich's bookstore called East Engineering, which is where the introductory statistics course taken by all first-year psychology grad students was held. During the 1990's, East Engineering was refurbished and given the imaginative and creative new name "East Hall." Psychology (and mathematics) now occupy East Hall, shown below the picture of the ISR. You can see how, above one of the doors to the Psychology Department, the engraved title "Engineering" remains as a reminder of the building's past.


During my first year of grad school, I lived in a graduate-student dorm on the North Campus (Baits Parker), which necessitated using the campus bus system to travel to and from Central Campus, where all the academic buildings for a psychology student were. I considered visiting my old residence hall during this recent visit, but time was short, so I contented myself with a walk past the Central Campus bus station...


In contrast to the above photos depicting things that have (mostly) stayed the same over the past 25 years, this last montage shows how UM is also ever-changing. The new North Quad residence-hall complex is being constructed on State St., by Huron and Washington, where the Frieze Building once stood. As I photographed it from my room at the Campus Inn, North Quad really seems to blend in well with the surrounding area (in my opinion, at least), with the famous UM Bell Tower in the background. For traditionalists, however, a portion of the Frieze Building's exterior has been preserved and incorporated into North Quad (lower left insert)


What will UM look like in 25 more years? I hope to be around to see it, but I don't want the time to fly by too quickly!

20th Anniversary of 1989 Michigan Men's NCAA Basketball Championship

The new issue of Michigan Today includes an article on the 20th anniversary of the University of Michigan men's basketball team winning the NCAA championship. That Wolverine team was famous for having its coach, Bill Frieder, bolt a few nights before the start of March Madness to sign with Arizona State for the next season, following secret negotiations. Athletic Director (and football coach) Bo Schembechler denied Frieder's request to finish the season with UM, inserting hoops assistant Steve Fisher into the head coaching role. And the rest, as they say, was history.

The 1988-89 academic year was when I completed my Ph.D., so I was there for the Wolverines' basketball championship. I distinctly remember where I was during each of the team's six NCAA tournament games, and the whole thing was great fun.

Visiting with Bob Josephs

I recently caught up with Bob Josephs at this year's SPIT (Social Psychologists in Texas) conference in Austin. Bob was in the same graduate-student cohort with me at Michigan, although in an unconventional way.

As I and my fellow incoming students were starting out at Michigan in the Fall 1984 semester, Bob was beginning grad school at the University of Washington. However, when Bob's advisor, Claude Steele, moved from U-Dub to Michigan in the Fall 1987 semester, Bob came along. In terms of graduate-school experience, Bob was the equivalent of the Fall '84 entering cohort, so he was grouped with us.

Upon completing his Ph.D. at UM, Bob joined the faculty at the University of Texas-Austin for the Fall 1990 term, and he's been there ever since. As I discussed with Bob during SPIT, it seems relatively rare for someone to have had one -- and only one -- position since completing grad school. For one thing, it requires someone to land a tenure-track job immediately, without the need for a post-doc or visiting position. Then, one has to like one's department and university, and the department and university have to like you (i.e., grant you tenure).

Bob is by no means the only graduate of the Michigan Ph.D. program to stay exclusively in one place, but it seemed easier for us to generate names of people who've moved at least once than names of people who've stayed put.

Passing of Bob Zajonc

I have just received the following message from Shinobu Kitayama:

Hi friends,

I have to bring you very sad news. Bob Zajonc -- Hazel Markus's husband and a renowned psychologist -- passed away early in the morning yesterday... Bob was a great psychologist and a very generous and wonderful person. He is being missed by everybody.

Simply put, Bob Zajonc was a mainstay of Michigan social psychology for nearly half a century. After receiving his Ph.D. at UM in 1955, he stayed there for nearly another 40 years as a professor.

There are several ways to measure a scholar's productivity and impact on his or her academic field, such as awards or articles in major journals such as Psychological Review, of which Bob had plenty. I have my own way of conveying Bob's impact.

For readers who are not statistical experts, a meta-analysis is an exercise where one rounds up as many studies as he or she can find on the same basic research question (often 100 or more studies) and then computes the average magnitude of the phenomenon. There are at least two published meta-analyses on lines of research that Bob either initiated or advanced, thus showing his role in inspiring others to study particular questions:

Bond, C. F., & Titus, L. J. (1983). Social facilitation: A meta-analysis of 241 studies. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 265-292.

Bornstein, R. F. (1989). Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968-1987. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 265-289.

A biographical sketch from the Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences is available here (from which I borrowed the photo). Also, on February 13, 2004, I wrote a profile of Bob (click here for February 2004 archive, then scroll down).

In my view, Bob's productivity as a scholar was equalled only by his kindness and generosity to people in the Michigan social psychology program. Several times, Bob and Hazel opened their home to the department for receptions. Even though I never worked on any research projects with him, Bob was always very encouraging when he would hear of a project of mine that he found interesting.

UPDATE: The New York Times has published this obituary on Bob.