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Whitbourne Receives the Distinguished Membership Award from Psi Chi
Susan Krauss Whitbourne, professor emerita of psychological and brain sciences, has received the Distinguished Membership Award from Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology.
Individuals selected for this honor “have national or international reputations because of contributions made to psychology and Psi Chi” in the disciplines of research, service or teaching.
Whitbourne was presented with this award at the Keynote Psi Chi address at the Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, on March 1. She is the 37th person to receive this distinction; other notable recipients include B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura and Florence Denmark.
Whitbourne was the faculty advisor to the UMass Psi Chi chapter for 25 years, receiving university awards for this service, as well as the National Psi Chi Advisor and Eastern Regional Psi Chi Advisor awards.
She has been a remarkably energetic and effective classroom teacher, teaching thousands of students over the course of her tenure, and winning numerous teaching and mentoring awards. Among dozens of national professional service positions, Whitbourne served as President of the Division 20 in the American Psychological Association and President of the Society for the Study of Human Development, and is President of the Eastern Psychological Association.
“Serving as Psi Chi advisor was one of the most enjoyable aspects of my time at UMass,” Whitbourne said. “As I reflect on the many great students I worked with, I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to be a part of their lives.”