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Memoir

William R. Uttal
Regents' Proceedings 717

William R. Uttal, Professor of Psychology, will retire from active faculty status on June 6, 1986, after a distinguished career as a teacher and a scholar.

Professor Uttal attended the University of Cincinnati, receiving his B.S. degree with a major in Physics in 1951. From 1951 through 1953 he was in the United States Air Force. In 1957 he received his Ph.D. degree from Ohio State University where he majored in experimental psychology and biophysics. After working for six years for IBM, Professor Uttal came to The University of Michigan in 1963 as an associate professor of psychology and a member of Mental Health Research Institute. He became a full professor in 1968. In 1976 joined the Institute for Social Research as a research scientist. Professor Uttal is an internationally respected researcher in the field of visual form perception. The contents of his books range from the empirical and technical, through integrative and theoretical. There are very few countries in the industrial world where Professor Uttal has not been invited to give a major address. He was also invited to be a visiting professor in Kyoto, Japan in 1965-66, Western Australia in 1970-71, and at the University of Hawaii in 1978-79 and 1980-81. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous professional journals and on many scientific advisory boards.

As a teacher and a colleague, Professor Uttal's career was exemplary. His classes were always popular among students who recognized his broad knowledge, his ability to explain complex ideas clearly, and his knack of getting students to think by challenging their assumptions. He also tested his new ideas at various faculty forms on campus. He was convinced that intellectual exchange was at the heart of University life, and he acted accordingly. Professor Uttal was always a responsible citizen of the University, and he generously and conscientiously served on numerous important committees. Professor Uttal received many honors. He was awarded an NIMH Research Scientist Award in 1971-76, and the James McKeen Cattell Sabbatical Award in 1978-79; he was a Scholar-inResidence of the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center in Bellagio, Italy; he was invited to give the distinguished MacEachran Memorial Lecture at the University of Alberta, and was elected to fellow status in many professional organizations.

The Regents now salute this distinguished psychologist for his dedicated service by naming William R. Uttal Professor Emeritus of Psychology.