Colleagues gather to honor ‘retired’ professor
013942
'-2003
interest in
involvement.
Barbara Hort, a former graduate student of Myron Rothbart, congratulates Rothbarton his career and his ‘retirement.’
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If you have had an excellent teacher this year or know someone doing excellent
teaching in an English Composition class (any class with a “WR” prefix), nominate
him or her for an Outstanding Composition Teacher Award. Nominations should
include your name, the name of the nominee, and one paragraph describing the
basis for the nomination.
Please submit your nomination in person or by email to the Assistant Directors
of Composition (101 PLC/ athompso@darkwing.uoregon.edu). Nominations may
also be submitted c/o the Composition Secretary in the English Department
(118 PLC). Nominations must be received by Friday, April 26,2002.
For more information, call Bryan Duncan
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■Though officially retired,
Professor Myron Rothbart will
continue psychology research
into social stereotypes
By Serena Markstrom
Oregon Daily Emerald
A farmer owns some land near
the border between Russia and
Poland, but he doesn’t know in
which country his land is located.
So he contacts a local surveyor to
solve this problem for him.
“Your land is in Poland,” de
clares the surveyor.
“Good,” says the farmer. “Now I
won’t have to endure those Russ
ian winters.”
This is one of social psycholo
gist Myron Rothbart’s favorite
jokes, as recalled Friday during
the “Mush and Gush” portion of a
weekend-long celebration of
Rothbart’s career. Rothbart has
spent a great deal of this career
dedicated to studying the often ar
bitrary nature of categorical think
ing and labeling.
“I was very nervous and anxious
about this but I have enjoyed every
minute of it,” Rothbart said of the
“Mush and Gush.” “I have been
extremely fortunate in my life.”
Rothbart has been teaching at
the University since 1969. He of
ficially retired in 1999 to opt for
an early retirement incentive of
fered by the Oregon Public Em
ployees Retirement System. He
also has a research grant from the
National Institute of Mental
Health, good until 2004.
Rothbart will continue as the
principal investigator of the Social
Psychology Lab in Straub Hall and
advising graduate students. He and
his team are working to under
stand categorical thinking, the na
ture of social stereotypes and the
role of these thought processes in
intergroup relations.
Retirement is a technicality, not
a practical reality.
Psychology Professor Sara
Hodges started planning the events
more than six months ago and col
leagues from around the country
came to honor Rothbart’s career.
“It’s a good time to mark it,”
said Hodges, who jokingly equat
ed the planning process to plan
ning a wedding.
During the morning “Mush and
Gush” portion, Hodges read let
ters from colleagues and former
students who couldn’t make the
trip. Many people present re
called memories of meeting Roth
bart and one person read a David
Letterman style “Top 10” list of
reasons “Mick” Rothbart will en
joy retirement.
A group from Padua, Italy,
where Rothbart took a sabbatical,
sent a video of a dinner party they
had in Rothbart’s honor.
Jim Sherman came from Indiana
University in Bloomington to take
part in the festivities, which also
included a trip to the coast.
“Mick has been one of my he
roes in social psychology,” said
Sherman, whose specialty is social
cognition. “He does it with such
integrity.”
“Mick has been one of my
heroes in social psychology.
He does it with such
integrity.”
Jim Sherman
Indiana University
Friday afternoon, Rothbart col
leagues Bernadette Park, Joachim <■
Krueger and Dave Hamilton gave
talks on how Rothbart’s research
has influenced their own.
Park said she regularly assigns
Rothbart's papers to her students at
the University of Chicago and they
have told her they find the materi
al useful. He takes complicated
cognitive processes and puts them
into real context so students un
derstand, Park said.
“I see his influence every
where,” Park said. Such as “when
I find myself working Woody
Allen into lectures.”
Rothbart said he had an inter
est in the psychology that leads
to discrimination since he was a
teenager.
“Seeing the injustices done to
blacks and others, you start won
dering, ‘What’s the psychology of
this?’” Rothbart said. “And won
dering how can it change. It’s a
problem of tremendous social
implication.
“If we can make any change on
this problem that has caused so
much human suffering Roth
bart said, “if I can make any dent,
my life will have been worth
while.”
At 63, Rothbart still has a lot of
questions unanswered and he said
he enjoys conducting research.
The No. 1 reason on the “Top
10”: He can work longer hours and
is not longer required to take vaca
tion days.
E-mail higher education editor
Serena Markstrom at
serenamarkstrom@dailyemerald.com.
News brief
Ben & Jerry’s
to give away ice cream
The Ben & Jerry’s ice cream par
lor near the University will give
away free ice cream today, marking
an annual event that last year drew
a line of customers that snaked
down the sidewalk and into the
nearby neighborhood.
Describing the event as a “kick
off to ice cream season,” owner
Gary Bertelsen said he expects to
top last year’s giveaway of 6,700
scoops and hand over 10,000 ice
cream cones this year.
The event is part of a franchise
wide Ben & Jerry’s giveaway that or
ganizers expect will move 1 million
free scoops of ice cream across par
lor counters around the nation.
“It gets people thinking about ice
cream again,” Bertelsen said,
adding that success of the event de
pends on only one factor — the
weather. “It doesn’t matter how
warm or cold it is. The sun just
needs to come up.”
There is no limit on how much
ice cream an individual can grab, so
in theory, one could eat free ice
cream all day, Bertelsen said.
“People can go through as many
times as they like, as long as they
wanfto wait in line.”
The store, at 1239 E. Alder St.,
will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and
will take donations for the Eugene
Relief Nursery, a nonprofit family
support service.
Darren Freeman
www.dailyemerald.com
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