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Memoir
Martin L Maehr
Regent's Proceedings 83
Regent's Proceedings 83
Martin L. Maehr, Ph.D., professor of education in the School of Education and professor of psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, retired from active faculty status on May 31, 2005.
Professor Maehr received his B.A. (1955) and M.Div. (1958) degrees from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and his M.A. (1959) and Ph.D. (1960) degrees from the University of Nebraska. He served on the faculty at Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana from 1960-67 and at the University of Illinois from 1967-88. At the University of Illinois, Professor Maehr was chair of the Department of Educational Psychology (1970-75), associate dean for graduate and international programs in the College of Education (1975-77), research professor (1977-88), and associate director (1977-86) and director (1986-88) of the Institute for Child Behavior and Development. Professor Maehr joined the University of Michigan faculty as professor of education and professor of psychology in 1988, and he served as director of the combined program in education and psychology from 1989-92.
Professor Maehr's research focused on motivation and achievement, school culture and climate, leadership and group processes, interpersonal relationships, and socio-cultural origins of achievement. He recently directed a research program on "Motivation and Achievement in Groups" funded by the Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the University of Michigan, and he is principal investigator of a research project on the measurement of motivation sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Professor Maehr has published more than 100 papers in scholarly journals and authored or co-authored several texts and widely used measurement instruments. He is also co-editor of a major book series: Advances in Motivation and Achievement. He has received numerous awards, fellowships, and research grants including a National Institutes of Mental Health special postdoctoral fellowship, a PEW Foundation resident fellowship at the Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame, and a special senior scholar fellowship at Leuven University, Belgium.
The Regents salute this distinguished faculty member by naming Martin L. Maehr professor emeritus of education and professor emeritus of psychology.