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").
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
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."
Saturday, December 04, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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).
Friday, October 30, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
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.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
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.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Visiting with Rick Larrick
In mid-November, I caught up with Rick Larrick, with whom I shared an office in the UM's Institute for Social Research when we were grad students nearly 20 years ago. Rick and I (along with Steve Fein) also did some research at Michigan on temperature and aggression in baseball (here and here).
The occasion for our recent meeting was a one-day preconference of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, held at the University of Chicago's downtown Gleacher Center. Shown in the collage with the picture of Rick (right) and me are some of Chicago's famous buildings, all just a short walk from the conference location.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Rick, as he was on the faculty of the University of Chicago's Business School (located on the main, Hyde Park, campus) from 1993-2001, before moving to Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Rick spoke at the preconference on his "MPG Illusion" research, which has gotten a lot of attention.
My presence at the preconference was largely accidental. I was coming to Chicago for my niece's Bat Mitzvah, when I realized the SJDM event was going on and that I could fit it into my schedule (with my sister's permission!).
The occasion for our recent meeting was a one-day preconference of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, held at the University of Chicago's downtown Gleacher Center. Shown in the collage with the picture of Rick (right) and me are some of Chicago's famous buildings, all just a short walk from the conference location.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Rick, as he was on the faculty of the University of Chicago's Business School (located on the main, Hyde Park, campus) from 1993-2001, before moving to Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Rick spoke at the preconference on his "MPG Illusion" research, which has gotten a lot of attention.
My presence at the preconference was largely accidental. I was coming to Chicago for my niece's Bat Mitzvah, when I realized the SJDM event was going on and that I could fit it into my schedule (with my sister's permission!).
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Remembering Drake's Sandwich Shop
A while back, the Michigan Alumnus magazine invited reminiscences on Drake's Sandwich Shop, the longtime campus-area hangout that closed in the 1990s. I sent in a blurb and, while I don't believe it got published in the paper copy of the publication, it was included in this online version, along with lots of other people's recollections.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Visiting with Jean Twenge
While in Los Angeles about a week ago, visiting my family and my undergraduate alma mater UCLA, I was pleased to be able to attend a talk there by Jean Twenge, a fellow Michigan psychology Ph.D. Jean, who went through the UM program about a decade after I did, has been on the faculty at San Diego State for several years and thus is only a couple hours down the road from L.A.
I've also written a song about Jean and her research.
I've also written a song about Jean and her research.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Yost Ice Arena Remains College Hockey Mecca
Earlier this month, USA Today published an extensive profile of Yost Ice Arena, where some of my fellow students and I enjoyed many an evening rooting on the Michigan Wolverine hockey team. As the article notes, longtime UM coach -- and former NHL great -- Red Berenson took over the reins in 1984; that is the same year my graduate-school cohort arrived.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Hazel Markus Wins Major APA Award
Hazel Markus, who spent roughly a quarter-century at the University of Michigan as a graduate student and then social psychology professor before moving to Stanford, has been named as a 2008 Distinguished Scientific Contribution award recipient from the American Psychological Association. This designation is a highly prestigious honor that is bestowed upon only three individuals per year (see here for a list of all-time winners). Congratulations to Hazel!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Greg Diamond Updates Friends on His Goings-On
Greg Diamond, the social scientist-turned-lawyer who went through Michigan's social-psych graduate program with my cohort, recently released a year-end "newsletter" about what's going on in his life. With his permission, I am providing a link to it (click here).
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Jon Krosnick Testifies Before Congress
I was channel-surfing with my TV remote last night, when I came across a televised Congressional hearing on C-SPAN. One of the witnesses was Stanford professor Jon Krosnick, with whom I overlapped a year in the social psych graduate program at Michigan, and with whom I've stayed in touch over the years in regard to issues of survey methodology.
It was in that methodologist's capacity that Jon helped with NASA’s National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS), and he was testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology. What NASA probably brings to most people's minds is space travel, but the hearing had to do with pilots and safety in commercial aviation (as best I could tell). I guess airlines fall within the "Aeronautics" portion of NASA's title.
Here's a picture of Jon testifying, which I "borrowed" from the Committee's website (the original picture was very small, so this enlarged version is pretty fuzzy).
The most interesting part of the hearing, to me, came when Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), holder of a Ph.D. in political science from Duke, mentioned during his time for questioning that he had taken a social psychology methods workshop from Jon, while the latter was on the faculty at Ohio State.
A transcript of Jon's testimony is available here.
It was in that methodologist's capacity that Jon helped with NASA’s National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS), and he was testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology. What NASA probably brings to most people's minds is space travel, but the hearing had to do with pilots and safety in commercial aviation (as best I could tell). I guess airlines fall within the "Aeronautics" portion of NASA's title.
Here's a picture of Jon testifying, which I "borrowed" from the Committee's website (the original picture was very small, so this enlarged version is pretty fuzzy).
The most interesting part of the hearing, to me, came when Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), holder of a Ph.D. in political science from Duke, mentioned during his time for questioning that he had taken a social psychology methods workshop from Jon, while the latter was on the faculty at Ohio State.
A transcript of Jon's testimony is available here.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Joe Veroff Dead at 77
I have just learned of the passing of UM psychology professor Joe Veroff, at the age of 77; his death occurred on September 30. An obituary appeared in the University Record, in which it is noted that, "A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. [Eastern] Nov. 24 in 1324 East Hall."
Joe's kind, gentle spirit is what I remember most. I, as well as countless other social and developmental psychology students over the years, took Joe's social-psychology core course on socialization and lifespan development (co-taught with the late Libby Douvan). As per Joe's tradition, the final day of class was a luncheon at his home. For my cohort, this event took place in May 1985. I was reminded of that by this portion of the obituary:
"It is hard to pass the old Veroff house on Granger without thinking of the many casual get-togethers for faculty and students, replete with wonderful home-cooked dishes, engaging conversation and good company that he and Jody provided for scores of scholars over the years," said Toni Antonucci...
Joe and his collaborators (and other Michigan faculty, too) were practitioners of the survey method, which I found to be a nice complement to the seeming emphasis at UM and in other social-psych programs on laboratory experimentation. Again, from the obituary:
With Elizabeth Douvan and Richard Kulka, Veroff co-authored two influential books based on findings from two nationally representative ISR surveys on these topics: "The Inner American: A Self-Portrait from 1957 to 1976" and "Mental Health in America: Patterns of Help-Seeking from 1957 to 1976."
Right around the time my graduate-student contemporaries arrived at UM in the early-mid 1980s, Joe and colleagues were beginning to launch the Early Years of Marriage Study, which continues to this day. Back on June 25, 2004, I wrote about Joe and the marriage study (June 2004 archive).
I'm sure many in the Michigan and broader psychology communities join me in expressing condolences and best wishes to Joe's family, friends, and colleagues.
Joe's kind, gentle spirit is what I remember most. I, as well as countless other social and developmental psychology students over the years, took Joe's social-psychology core course on socialization and lifespan development (co-taught with the late Libby Douvan). As per Joe's tradition, the final day of class was a luncheon at his home. For my cohort, this event took place in May 1985. I was reminded of that by this portion of the obituary:
"It is hard to pass the old Veroff house on Granger without thinking of the many casual get-togethers for faculty and students, replete with wonderful home-cooked dishes, engaging conversation and good company that he and Jody provided for scores of scholars over the years," said Toni Antonucci...
Joe and his collaborators (and other Michigan faculty, too) were practitioners of the survey method, which I found to be a nice complement to the seeming emphasis at UM and in other social-psych programs on laboratory experimentation. Again, from the obituary:
With Elizabeth Douvan and Richard Kulka, Veroff co-authored two influential books based on findings from two nationally representative ISR surveys on these topics: "The Inner American: A Self-Portrait from 1957 to 1976" and "Mental Health in America: Patterns of Help-Seeking from 1957 to 1976."
Right around the time my graduate-student contemporaries arrived at UM in the early-mid 1980s, Joe and colleagues were beginning to launch the Early Years of Marriage Study, which continues to this day. Back on June 25, 2004, I wrote about Joe and the marriage study (June 2004 archive).
I'm sure many in the Michigan and broader psychology communities join me in expressing condolences and best wishes to Joe's family, friends, and colleagues.
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