Since 2005, a number of audio interviews have been made with retired, or about to be retired, members of the Psychology faculty, or their widows. These include William Caul, Robert Fox, Martin Katahn, Joseph Lappin, and Richard Blanton's widow. The audio version of some of these interviews will be available on this site soon.
Richard ("Dick") Blanton was both a product of the department and one of its most memorable faculty. After graduating from Birmingham Southern, where he became good friends with Jum Nunnally, Blanton served in the Army in the Pacific during World War II. After the war he began graduate work in Psychology at the University of Iowa. He eventually transferred to Vanderbilt (for reasons treated in this interview) where he received his PhD. The first two PhD's awarded by the Psychology Department at Vanderbilt were awarded in 1951. Blanton's was one of them, the first in Clinical Psychology. After a stint on the faculty at the University of Kentucky, Blanton came to Vanderbilt in 1961 (hired by old friend Jum Nunnally), retiring in 1986. The interview with his widow Pat, is available here.
Bill Caul earned his PhD in 1965 from Carnegie-Mellon and joined the faculty at Vanderbilt in January 1970. Here he served as Director of Graduate Studies for 3 years, oversaw the department's Honor's Program, and served as Chair for 5 years. He retired in 2002. One of his departmental achievements, as entertainingly treated in this interview, was his major role in convincing the administration to construct Wilson Hall and then in aiding with details of its design.
The interview, in three parts, is available here.
Bob Fox, scheduled to retire in 2012, has served on the faculty longer than any other member in the department's history. He came in 1963. This web history benefits from documents he has left for the department's archive, including notes on faculty meetings. He has played a major role in planning new growth of our facilities.
The interview, in three parts, is available here.
The interview, in five parts, is available here.
The interview will be available here.