Arnold Buss: Leading the Field and Inspiring Psychology’s Thought-Leaders
For more than six decades, Arnold Buss, recently retired psychology professor, has been a nationally recognized researcher in the field of social behavior and personality.
Throughout his career at The University of Texas at Austin, Buss examined shame and guilt; an epigenetic theory of personality (emphasizing differentiation); and an evolutionary developmental approach to social emotions.
He has published more than 80 articles and book chapters and more than a dozen books. In 2001, he published, “Psychological Dimensions of the Self.” Buss also inspired some of today’s leaders in the field.
The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) is an institution that tracks bibliographic information for the sciences. Seven of Buss’ former students are listed on ISI’s 300 most cited researchers within the fields of psychiatry and psychology.
Arguably, among the most notable of his former students shares his last name. His son, David, is one of the leading experts in the field of evolutionary psychology, human sexuality and relationships.
The Top 10 Signs I Knew It Was Time to Retire by Arnold Buss
1. I kept thinking it’s still the 20th century.
2. I lost faith that my body was made by an intelligent designer.
3. My chairman kept speaking about me in the past tense.
4. My colleagues started treating me with respect.
5. S tudents were shocked that I read journals printed on paper.
6. I realized that my computer is the work of the devil.
7. I came up with an interesting new idea but discovered I had published an article on it 20 years ago.
8. I gave the same lecture twice in a row.
9. I gave the same lecture twice in a row.
I0. I came into work one day and couldn’t remember why, so I decided to retire.
Read more about Buss in “Six Decades of Psychology.”
Robert S. Boyer
Philosophy
Boyer, professor of philosophy, computer science and mathematics, taught at the university for 27 years. He researched automated theorem proving, logic and the philosophy of mathematics.
He earned numerous awards for his research on automatic theorem proving, including the 2005 Software System Award from the Association for Computing Machinery for his work on the Boyer-Moore Theorem Prover. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Automated Reasoning. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, he co-authored “A Computational Logic” and “A Computational Logic Handbook.”
Ingrid M. Edlund-Bery
Classics
Edlund-Berry, professor of classics, taught at the university for 30 years. She served as associate director of the excavations at Metaponto at the Institute of Classical Archeology from 1978 to 1981, and as the Latin coordinator for the Department of Classics from 1990 to 2004.
She researched classical archaeology and Etruscology, and led several excavation projects in Italy. She is the author of numerous books on Etruscan and Italian archeology. She earned the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Classical Archaeology from the American Academy in Rome and a fellowship at the University of Wurzburg from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Foundation.
Robert H. Kane
Philosophy
Kane, distinguished teaching professor of philosophy, taught at the university for 38 years. His research focused on free will, philosophy of mind, ethics and the theory of value. Kane has won 15 major teaching awards, including the Friar Society Centennial Teaching Excellence Award. He is one of the 12 initial members elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 1995.
Kane is the author of eight books, the editor of “The Oxford Handbook of Free Will,” and the creator of the audio and video lecture series, “Quest for Meaning: Values, Ethics and the Modern Experience.” He received the Robert W. Hamilton Faculty Book Award for “The Significance of Free Will.”
Cynthia W. Shelmerdine
Classics
Shelmerdine, the Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics, taught at the university for 31 years. She was the first female chair of the Department of Classics, a position she held from 1998 to 2002. She also served as acting chair from 2005 to 2007.
She researches Aegean Bronze Age texts and archeology, and Mycenaean Greek culture. She conducted fieldwork in Greece, including the Pylos Regional Archeological Project, which she co-directs, and the Iklaina Archeological Project, where she serves as a pottery expert. Her publications include “The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age,” “Introduction to Greek” and “A Guide to the Palace of Nestor.”
W. Parker Frisbie
Sociology
Frisbie, professor of sociology and former director of the Population Research Center, taught at the university for 36 years. He served as chair of the Department of Sociology from 1985 to 1986. During his tenure, Frisbie published more than 80 studies on racial disparity in infant mortality, pregnancy outcomes, mortality and the demography of minorities. His research has been supported by grants from NASA, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Frisbie has served on the board of editors for prestigious journals such as American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces and Demography.
Lily Litvak
Spanish and Portuguese
Litvak, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, taught at the university for 36 years. She served as curator for three exhibits in Spanish museums, including the Mapfre Museum in Madrid and Museo de Bellas Artes de Bibao. She researched 19th and 20th-century Spanish, Latin American and comparative European literature. She is the author of more than 20 books, including “El Modernismo,” “A La Playa!” and “Retablo del Amor.” Litvak also has authored more than 100 scholarly articles, book reviews and publication contributions. She received the American Philosophical Society Award and the American Council of Learned Societies Award.
Dina M. Sherzer
French and Italian
Sherzer, professor of French and Italian and comparative literature, taught at the university for 37 years. She served as director of the France-University of Texas Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies from 2002 to 2005, and as chair of the Department of French and Italian from 1994 to 2003. Her fields of specialty are 20th-century French literature and film and post colonialism. She has published numerous studies on Irish writer and poet Samuel Beckett, French new novels and contemporary French films. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Fulbright Fellowship.
Joel F. Sherzer
Anthropology
Sherzer, the Liberal Arts Foundation Centennial Professor of Linguistic Anthropology, taught at the university for 28 years. He served as chair of the anthropology department from 1987 to 1995 and directed the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America for eight years. He specializes in linguistic anthropology, with a focus on the ethnography of speaking and speech play. Sherzer has researched among the Kuna Indians of Panama and in Bali, Indonesia. His publications include “Kuna Ways of Speaking” and “Verbal Art in San Blas.” Sherzer earned Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships.
Ian R. Manners
Geography and the Environment
Manners, professor of geography and the environment, taught at the university for 37 years. A former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and chair of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Manners is known for his research on the cartographic representation of the Middle East and the Mediterranean worlds, and his explorations of how maps shape both our geographical knowledge and political history. He specializes in conservation and resource management, urban cultural geography and historical cartography. Manners is the curator of an exhibit on European cartography and the Ottoman world for the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.