Richard C. Atkinson
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Richard C. Atkinson (born March 1929) served as the president of the University of California from 1995 to 2003.
[edit] Career overview
Atkinson started out as a professor of psychology at Stanford University, where he worked with Patrick Suppes on experiments in which they tried to use computers to teach math and reading to young children in Palo Alto elementary schools. The Education Program for Gifted Youth at Stanford is a descendant of those early experiments.
Eventually, Atkinson transitioned from research to a career in administration, and went on to serve as Director of the National Science Foundation, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and President of the University of California system.
Atkinson is widely recognized for his scientific, academic, and administrative accomplishments. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Education, and the American Philosophical Society. He is past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, former chair of the Association of American Universities, the recipient of many honorary degrees. A mountain in Antarctica, and Atkinson Hall, the home of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at UC San Diego, are named in his honor.
[edit] Research career
After earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago and his PhD in experimental psychology and mathematics at Indiana University, Atkinson joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1956. Except for a three-year interval at UCLA, he served as professor of psychology at Stanford from 1956 to 1975. His research on mathematical models of human memory and cognition led to additional appointments in the School of Engineering, the School of Education, the Applied Mathematics and Statistics Laboratories, and the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences. Atkinson’s theory of human memory has been influential in shaping research in the field of experimental psychology. Advances in computer-assisted instruction and methods for optimizing the learning process have been among the more applied outcomes of his theoretical interests.
In 1977, he received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. According to the citation, he earned this recognition:
“For combining classical methods of mathematics with emerging techniques of computer science, the best traditions of experimental psychology with new concepts of information processing, in the advancement of psychological theory and its applications. His long-term collaboration with Patrick Suppes yielded among its fruits the first extensive application of learning theory to multiperson interactions. With Richard M. Shiffrin, Atkinson developed the model that has set the pace for research on human short-term memory; with James Juola and others he developed an almost equally influential family of models for recognition and search processes. And on a quite different tack, Atkinson anticipated current demands for ‘relevance’ with his pioneering contributions to computer-assisted instruction and optimization of learning.”
[edit] Research Papers on Memory, Learning, and Adaptive Instructional Systems
What follows is the Preface and Table of Contents for a book entitled Human Memory and the Learning Process: Selected Papers of Richard C. Atkinson, assembled by Russian colleagues, translated into Russian, and published in 1980 by the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences.
The reference is Human Memory and the Learning Process: Selected Papers of Richard C. Atkinson, edited by Y. Zabrodin and B. F. Lomov. Moscow: Progress Publishing House, 1980.
The full text in English is available here.
[edit] Preface
The papers in this volume deal with fundamental research on human memory, perception and cognition as well as more applied work on school learning and the instructional process. A theme running through all of these papers is a close interplay between theory and experimentation. Whenever possible, the theory is stated in formal terms either as a mathematical model or as a computer program; predictions are then derived from the theory; the predictions are used to design an appropriate experiment; the experiment is conducted and data collected; discrepancies are identified between theoretical predictions and experimental outcomes; the theory is revised to take account of the discrepancies; and the cycle of events is repeated. This cycle characterizes the scientific method whether in psychology or any other field of science. The interplay between theory and experiment is strengthened to the extent that the theory is stated in formal terms and can be used to identify differences between observed and predicted behavior.
It is a great honor and a pleasure for me to have some of my papers translated into Russian and published in the Soviet Union. I have been in close contact with psychologists and mathematicians in the Soviet Union since myfirst visit there in 1960 and these exchanges have proved to be invaluable. Discussions in the 1960's with Soviet scientists were influential in my use of control theory as a method for optimizing the instructional process, and the first public lecture that I gave on my theory of long- and short-term memory was in Moscow at the 1968 meetings of the International Congress of Psychology. In recent years, I have maintained close relations with Professor Lomov and other members of the Institute of Psychology of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Moscow; members of the institute have been in my laboratory at Stanford University several times and I have been a visitor at the Institute on at least four occasions. The understanding and colleagueship between American psychologists and their Soviet counterparts is as close as that of any two nations. Both the science of psychology and relations between our two countries benefit by this close interchange. I hope that the Soviet readers of this volume will share with me my excitement for research in psychology and that together we can expand the frontiers of the psychological sciences.
Richard C. Atkinson
Washington, D.C.
February 22,1979
[edit] Table of Contents
SECTION I: Human memory and its control processes 1. The control of short-term memory (with R. M. Shiffrin)
2. Human Memory: A proposed system and its control processes (with R. M. Shiffrin)
3. Human memory and the concept of reinforcement (with T. D. Wickens)
4. Some remarks on a theory of memory (with K. T. Wescourt)
SECTION II: Search and decision processes in recognition memory 5. Search processes in recognition memory (with D. J. Herrmann and K. T. Wescourt)
6. Search and decision processes in recognition memory
SECTION III: Signal detection and recognition as influenced by memory and learning processes 7. A learning model for forced-choice detection experiments (with R. A. Kinchla)
8. Signal recognition as influenced by information feedback (with T. A. Tanner, Jr., and J. A. Rauk)
SECTION IV: Optimizing the learning process 9. Adaptive instructional systems: Some attempts to optimize the learning process
10. Computerized instruction and the learning process
11. Ingredients for a theory of instruction
12. Mnemotechnics in second-language learning
[edit] National Science Foundation
As as deputy director and director of the National Science Foundation (1975-1980), Atkinson had a wide range of responsibilities for science policy at a national and international level. Among them was negotiating the first memorandum of understanding between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, an agreement for the exchange of scientists and scholars. It became part of a more comprehensive agreement on science and technology between China and the United States signed by Chair Deng Xiaoping and President Jimmy Carter in January 1979.
During Atkinson’s tenure at NSF, skeptics in both Congress and the media mounted frequent attacks on government funding for basic research as little more than subsidizing idle curiosity about trivial topics at the taxpayers’ expense. This trend was aptly symbolized by Senator William Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Awards for waste and fraud in public programs, one of which went to NSF for a study of the sexual behavior of screwworm flies. As NSF director, Atkinson defended this and other projects—whose value Senator Proxmire ultimately acknowledged—as well as the long-term importance of fundamental intellectual inquiry. In the same vein, NSF conducted some of the early studies on the contributions of basic research to productivity and economic growth.
[edit] Chancellor, U.C. San Diego
As chancellor of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) from 1980-1995, he instituted a major administrative reorganization of the campus and began a sustained effort to strengthen UCSD's ties with the city of San Diego. This highly successful effort yielded important dividends in the form of financial and community support, with private giving rising from $15 million to nearly $50 million annually during his chancellorship. Despite a series of tight budgets in the late 1980s, he found innovative ways to fund the construction of new buildings and to support new academic programs. UCSD's increasing academic stature was reflected in its 1982 election to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, consisting of 62 of the nation's top research universities. The campus's steady growth in size and distinction was a mark of Atkinson's tenure. UCSD's faculty expanded by nearly 50 percent and enrollment doubled to about 18,000 students. In 1995, the quality of its graduate programs was ranked tenth in the nation by the National Research Council.
During his years at UCSD, Atkinson also followed a strategy of encouraging technology transfer and active involvement with industry, especially with the small, high-technology companies that were springing up around San Diego in the 1980s. The UCSD CONNECT program, self-sustaining but run by UC San Diego Extension, began in 1985. It was successful in helping aspiring entrepreneurs in high-technology fields find information, funding, and practical support on such crucial topics as writing a business plan, marketing, and attracting capital. It also acted as an advocate on public policy issues that affect business. UCSD's outstanding faculty, innovative research, and commitment to industry-university partnerships were major factors in transforming the San Diego region into a world leader in technology-based industries. Atkinson's role in this transformation was noted in a recent study of research universities and their impact on the genesis of high-technology centers (see Raymond Smilor, Niall O'Donnell, Gregory Stein and Robert S. Welborn, III, "The Research University and the Development of High-Technology Centers in the United States," Economic Development Quarterly, Vol. 21, No.3, August 2007, pp. 203-222).
[edit] President, University of California
Atkinson became the University of California’s seventeenth president in October 1995. His principal goal was sustaining the excellence of UC’s faculty, recognized in several national studies of academic program quality. An equally important challenge was accommodating an additional 63,000 undergraduates—an enrollment increase of forty percent—between 1998 and 2010. UC Merced, the University’s first new campus in forty years, was founded during Atkinson’s presidency.
He also sought to expand the University’s contributions to California’s productivity and economic growth through such efforts as the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program, which supports collaborative research in areas critical to the state’s competitive edge. The California Institutes for Science and Innovation, proposed by California Governor Gray Davis and established at four UC campuses, are aimed at creating the next generation of knowledge in high-technology fields through interdisciplinary research partnerships with industry.
Atkinson’s most important task as president, however, flowed from the July 1995 decision by the UC Board of Regents to eliminate racial preferences in admission. Under his guidance, UC embarked on an ambitious partnership with the K-12 public schools to raise the level of academic accomplishment among all California children. Within UC, the Academic Senate and the Regents approved his proposals for several new paths to undergraduate admission that moved UC closer to the comprehensive review of students’ records used by selective private universities. By the end of his tenure, UC was admitting more minority students than it was in 1997, the year before the ban on affirmative action took effect.
Under Atkinson's leadership, the University adopted a new academic freedom policy that clearly defined the central role of the faculty in protecting and promoting the freedom to teach, to do research, and to express and publish views in the context of the modern research university. He established the California Digital Library to expand access to UC's collections and to advance new forms of scholarly communication. UC established several new professional schools and began expanding its graduate enrollments. Enrollment in engineering and computer science—disciplines essential to the high-tech California economy—rose by nearly 70 percent, and total UC enrollment increased by a third, from 150,000 to 202,000 students. The University prospered during Atkinson's tenure. For the first time, private giving reached the billion-dollar mark in a single year, UC's state-funded budget nearly doubled, and federal research funds soared.
[edit] A Brief History of the Atkinson Presidency (1995 - 2003)
Richard C. Atkinson led the University of California into the post-affirmative action era and American education into a new chapter in the history of standardized testing as seventeenth president of the nation’s leading multicampus system. His eight-year tenure was marked by innovative approaches to admissions and outreach, research initiatives to accelerate the University’s contributions to the state’s economy, and a challenge to the country’s most widely used admissions examination–the SAT I–that paved the way to major change in how millions of young Americans will be tested for college admission.
As the University heads into a new and difficult budgetary climate, the Atkinson years will be remembered as a time of great growth and prosperity, a period in which UC’s State-funded budget rose to new highs and federal research funding and private giving regularly set new records. The University named the founding chancellor for UC Merced, its first new campus in 30 years and the first American research university of the twenty-first century. It established several new professional schools and initiated growth in its graduate programs with a plan for the addition of 11,000 graduate students over the next decade. Eight of the University’s ten current chancellors were appointed during Atkinson’s presidency.
UC expanded its national presence with a new center in Washington, D.C. and its international reach with centers in London and Mexico City. The California Digital Library, a pioneering effort to make the University’s vast collections more accessible to scholars and the public and to encourage new forms of scholarly communication, reflected the University’s leadership in the evolving world of digital telecommunications.
Atkinson’s highest priority was maintaining the distinction of UC’s 7,000-member faculty. The academic excellence of the University and its faculty was recognized in several national studies of academic program quality, one of which noted “the extraordinary research performance of the entire University of California system” among American universities, public and private. UC’s membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities–six of its nine general campuses–exceeds that of any other multicampus system. Eleven UC faculty members were awarded Nobel Prizes during Atkinson’s tenure, more than under any other UC president.
As chancellor of UC San Diego from 1980 to 1995–during which the young campus rose to rank tenth among American research universities–Atkinson combined driving energy and a gift for persuasion with an unswerving pursuit of his goals. As president of the UC System, he attacked the University’s greatest opportunities and most intractable problems with the same persistent vigor.
Atkinson faced his share of crises and controversies, among them an early and public disagreement with some members of the Board of Regents over the implementation date of SP-1, the ban on racial preferences in UC admissions. UCSF Stanford Healthcare, the merger of the clinical enterprises of UC San Francisco and Stanford University, was an historic but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to address the competitive pressures of the health-care marketplace. Dealing with the fallout of California’s sudden transition from prosperity to recession has confronted the University with painful choices. And UC’s administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory at Los Alamos has come under fire in recent years, resulting in a decision by DOE to put the laboratory’s management contract up for competition when it expires in 2005.
But the issues that dominated the Atkinson administration were the issues shaping California: the state’s emergence as the world’s leading knowledge-based economy and the rapidly growing size and diversity of its population, which brought the first of the largest student generation since the 1960s to the University’s door. Atkinson’s administrative and intellectual leadership of the University reflected a deliberate effort to define UC’s role in this changing California.
[edit] SP-1 and UC outreach
His earliest and greatest challenge was in the contentious arena of UC admissions. He was named president in August 1995, just weeks after the Board of Regents voted to approve SP-1, which abolished the use of race and ethnicity as factors in admission and put UC in the national spotlight as the first major American university to end affirmative action in the admission of students. The ban on racial preferences was extended to all public entities in California sixteen months later with the passage of Proposition 209.
For UC’s president and chancellors, SP-1 and Proposition 209 were an exacting test of leadership in reversing three decades of race-attentive policies while also ensuring that UC, as a public university in the nation’s most diverse state, continued to be seen as a welcoming place for minority students.
Under Atkinson’s leadership, the University dramatically expanded its partnerships with the K-12 schools to raise academic achievement throughout California, especially in those districts with high proportions of academically disadvantaged students. In 2001, the school/university partnerships served more than 97,000 students in 256 schools annually, representing a level of institutional involvement unprecedented in American higher education. At Governor Gray Davis's request and as part of his school reform initiative, the University established the Principal Leadership Institute, the California Professional Development Institutes, and a series of other initiatives to improve the preparation of California's teachers and K-12 administrators.
Eight years after the passage of SP-1, UC is admitting more underrepresented students–Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans–than it was in 1997, the year before SP-1 took effect. In fall 1997, underrepresented minorities made up 18.8 percent of UC’s systemwide freshman class; in fall 2003, the figure is 19.8 percent.
With Atkinson’s support, The Regents voted to rescind SP-1 in May 2001. The Board’s resolution affirmed the University’s intent to continue complying with Proposition 209's ban on racial preferences and reaffirmed UC’s commitment to enrolling a student body that reflects both exceptional achievement and “the broad diversity of backgrounds characteristic of California.”
[edit] Research for a dynamic economy
Atkinson came to the UC presidency convinced that twenty-first century science requires new forms of organization and funding. In particular, his goal was to tap the enormous potential within the University for research that serves the needs of California’s economy. One of his first acts as president was to establish the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP) to promote research partnerships with industry in disciplines critical to the state’s economic competitiveness. The IUCRP is now a $250 million enterprise that supports more than 500 projects, jointly supported by State, UC, and industry funds, in areas ranging from biotechnology to digital media. The program is unusual in its emphasis on early-stage investigations that promise to yield new products and technologies and boost the state’s economic productivity.
To address a looming crisis in the state’s supply of engineers and computer scientists, in 1997 Atkinson committed the University to increasing enrollments in those fields 50 percent by 2005-6. UC exceeded this goal in 2002, four years ahead of schedule, and expects engineering and computer science enrollments to reach 27,000 in 2003-2004–up from 16,000 in 1997-98. The initiative represents the first real growth in the state’s engineering programs since the 1968 Terman Report brought expansion of engineering education in California to a virtual halt.
Governor Davis, also a believer in the dynamic role of innovative research in ensuring California’s economic leadership, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the University’s efforts. In 2000, he asked UC to establish four California Institutes for Science and Innovation (CISIs) on its campuses. The institutes bring together industry and university researchers to concentrate on scientific challenges that are ripe for application in the fields of nanotechnology, telecommunications and information technology, biotechnology and quantitative medicine, and information technology. The CISIs constitute one of the most far-reaching efforts in the nation to create new basic research and education programs and then to link them with the state’s entrepreneurial industries through intensive partnerships. They are unique among industry-university initiatives in their aim to create the economy of the future.
[edit] Tidal Wave II and UC admissions policy
Another challenge of the Atkinson era was preparing the University for a new generation of students–Tidal Wave II, the children of the Baby Boomers. Accommodating its share of Tidal Wave II meant finding a place on UC campuses for 63,000 additional students–an enrollment increase of 40 percent--and recruiting 7,000 new faculty between 1998 and 2010. Atkinson initiated a comprehensive planning effort to help the University grow quickly without endangering its quality.
The Atkinson presidency was notable for its intense focus on the issue of educational opportunity, a matter of increasing public and legislative scrutiny because of SP-1 and growing competition for admission to UC. Atkinson played an active role in reshaping UC’s admissions policies and practices to make them, in his words,“demonstrably inclusive and fair.” On his recommendation, the University’s Academic Senate and The Regents approved two new paths to admission–Eligibility in the Local Context and the Dual Admissions program. Both programs cast a wider net for talent by supplementing traditional grades and test scores with broader measures of student achievement, among them what students have made of their opportunities to learn. In addition,undergraduate applicants now receive the kind of comprehensive review of their qualifications usually associated with selective private universities.
[edit] Achievement versus aptitude
Atkinson has earned a place in the annals of standardized testing for his challenge to higher education’s decades-long reliance on aptitude tests to predict students’ readiness for college. He made national headlines in February 2001 when he told the American Council on Education that he had asked the Academic Senate of the University of California to drop the SAT I examination requirement in favor of tests that assess what students actually learn in school rather than “ill-defined notions of aptitude.” The announcement that the country’s largest user of the SAT was considering eliminating it sent shock waves through American higher education, and Atkinson’s case for achievement tests–that they are more reliable predictors of future success, fairer to students, and better guides for schools– unleashed a lively national debate on standardized testing.
In June 2002 the College Board, sponsor of the SAT, announced that beginning in 2005 it would add a written essay and more rigorous mathematics section to the 76-year-old test. Atkinson welcomed the decision and praised the College Board for having “laid the foundation for a new test that will better serve our students and schools.”
[edit] The Atkinson years
The University’s seventeenth president will be remembered for his absolute commitment to faculty quality, his skill in balancing UC’s competing pressures and responsibilities, and his resourcefulness in using the opportunities prosperity offered to urge the University in new directions. “The role of knowledge in transforming virtually every aspect of our world has moved research universities to center stage of American life,” he once said, a conviction that has animated the leadership he brought to the University as chancellor and as president. His place in the history of the University of California and of American higher education is secure.
[edit] Speeches and Commentaries
Research Universities: Core of the U.S. Science and Technology System – Paper published in Technology in Society, Vol. 30, No.1 (January 2008).
Commencement Remarks - 80th Commencement Ceremony for Claremont Graduate University (05/12/07).
Research Universities and the Wealth of Nations - A speech presented at the U.S.-China Forum on Science and Technology Policy held on October 15-17, 2006, in Beijing, China (10/16/06).
Recollections of events leading to the first exchange of students, scholars and scientists between the United States and the People’s Republic of China - A memorandum describing a US delegation’s visit to China in 1978.
Jose Mercury News Op-Ed 07.23.pdf 'Absurd' studies of science's puzzles prove their worth - Opinion piece about the value of social sciences research published in the San Jose Mercury News (07/23/06) and other newspapers.
Opportunity in a Democratic Society: Race and Economic Status in Higher Education - This paper was the basis for the Third Annual Nancy Cantor Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Diversity delivered by Richard C. Atkinson on May 18, 2005 at a national conference at the University of Michigan entitled "Futuring Diversity: Creating a National Agenda." Subsequently published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 150, No. 2 (June 2006).
Commencement Remarks - Charter Class of the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (06/03/06).
Proposed Boycott of Israeli Academics - Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times signed by Richard C. Atkinson, President Emeritus, University of California; John Brademus, President Emeritus, New York University; Thomas Ehrlich, President Emeritus, Indiana University; Donald Kennedy, President Emeritus, Stanford University; and David Ward, Chancellor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison (05/30/06).
Remembering David Saxon - Remarks given at President Emeritus David Saxon’s Memorial Service on the UCLA campus (03/14/06).
Equity in California Higher Education - Speech presented to the Latino Education Summit X in San Diego, California (09/24/05).
Richard C. Atkinson’s foreword to the book - Fred Terman at Stanford: Building a Discipline, a University, and Silicon Valley (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2004).
Research Universities and the Nation’s Economy - Speech presented to the Downtown San Diego Rotary Club (11/18/04).
Rethinking Admissions: US Public Universities in the Post-Affirmative Action Age - Invited paper at the UK and US Higher Education Finance and Access Symposium, Oxford University (09/29/04).
College Admissions and the SAT: A Personal Perspective - Invited address at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego (4/14/04). Subsequently published in: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Observer, Vol. 18, 15-22, 2005.
A New World of Scholarly Communication -Commentary about preserving access to scholarly resources in university libraries, published in The Chronicle of Higher Education (11/07/03).
Farewell Remarks presented to the Board of Regents (9/18/03).
Regents' Resolution in honor of Richard C. Atkinson (9/18/03).
A Brief History of the Atkinson Presidency by Patricia A. Pelfrey (9/03).
Public Sector Collaboration for Agricultural IP Management - Commentary about intellectual property rights by Richard C. Atkinson and others, published in Science (7/11/03).
Academic Freedom and the Research University - paper published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 148, No. 2 (June 2004).
University of Chicago Alumni Medal – Remarks on the occasion of receiving the University of Chicago Alumni Medal (6/7/03).
Stanley Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility – Remarks on the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Biosciences and Bioengineering Facility at UC Berkeley (5/30/03).
Academic Freedom - Letter to The Regents informing them of the Academic Council’s review of a proposed revision to the policy on academic freedom contained in the Academic Person Manual, Section 010 (4/23/03).
Diversity: Not There Yet - Opinion piece about UC's experience with the elimination of race and ethnicity in admissions, published by The Washington Post (4/20/03).
Letter to the Regents regarding enrollment projections and long-range planning (3/3/03).
Valley will reap infinite rewards from UC Merced - Opinion piece about the University of California's 10th campus being built in the San Joaquin Valley, published in The Fresno Bee (11/4/02).
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 50th Anniversary - Remarks on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (9/20/02).
Anniversary of September 11 - Letter members of the University of California community on the anniversary of September 11 (9/3/02).
English R1A course section - Letter to The Regents regarding reading and composition course at UC Berkeley, and Professor Robert Post's analysis on issues of academic freedom and responsibility (8/14/02).
Message at the beginning of the academic year - Letter to members of the University of California community regarding the exchange of divergent viewpoints and civil obedience in exercising free speech (8/02).
College Board's decision to alter the SAT I - Statement on the College Board's new test, which will be in accord with specifications developed by UC's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (6/27/02)
California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology - Remarks on the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Cal-IT2) and the Computer Science and Engineering Building in San Diego (5/31/02).
The Changing World of College Admissions Tests - Speech delivered to the Western Association of College and University Business Officers, San Diego (5/7/02).
Food safety first - Opinion piece about efforts by the University of California to help ensure the safety and security of the nation’s food supply, published in the San Francisco Chronicle (5/2/02).
The Quality of the University of California - Text of letter to a UC alumnus concerned about the quality of the University (1/28/02).
[http://rca.ucsd.edu/speeches/APAAwardforOutstandingLifetimeContributiontoPsychology2002RCA.pdf American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology 2002).
Achievement Versus Aptitude in College Admissions - Paper based on keynote address delivered at a conference on Rethinking the SAT: The Future of Standardized Testing in University Admissions, in Santa Barbara, 11/16/01. Published in Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2001-02 (12/01).
Rethinking admissions tests - Web site with comprehensive information about UC's deliberations on the use of admisssions test.
The California Crucible: Demography, Excellence, and Access at the University of California - Keynote address delivered at the 2001 International Assembly of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, San Francisco (7/2/01).
UC looks beyond test scores for students - Opinion piece about initiatives to expand opportunities for students to achieve admission to UC, published in the Sacramento Bee(6/15/01).
Educational leadership for California - Testimony on demand for the education doctorate before the California Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education, Sacramento (6/12/01).
The Globalization of the University - Keynote address delivered at the inauguration of President Akimasa Mitsuta, Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies, Japan (5/26/01).
Update on Federal Research and Development Expenditures - Letter to The Regents of the University of California about a report in the March 16, 2001 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education on the top 100 institutions for federal R&D expenditures in 1998 and 1999 (4/18/01).
Standardized Tests and Access to American Universities - The 2001 Robert H. Atwell Distinguished Lecture, delivered at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education, Washington, D.C. (2/18/01).
Let's step back from the SAT I - Opinion piece about elimination of the SAT I examination as a requirement for application to the University of California, published in the San Jose Mercury News (2/23/01).
UC takes a look at SAT I's worth - Opinion piece about the role of standardized testing and the SAT I in admissions decisions at the University of California, published in the Sacramento Bee (2/21/01).
A Five-Year Report to The Regents - Progress report on goals for the University of California (1/01).
Higher Education Helps Drive the Economy - Opinion piece about the partnership between the University of California and California State University systems in contributing to the state's economy, published in the Los Angeles Times (10/4/00).
Why federal funding for basic research is important - Opinion piece about how basic research funding can help maintain our nation's economic strength, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune (9/28/00).
Dual Admission Proposal - Letter to UC Academic Council Chair proposing an alternative path to supplement the University's current admission process. A background document accompanies the letter (9/20/00).
Summer Institutes - Letter to Governor Davis about the California Professional Development Initiatives, designed to improve teacher quality and student learning in California (9/8/00).
Commencement Address - California Western School of Law, San Diego (4/28/00).
Industry-University Partnerships - Letter to The Regents of the University of California about an article in the March 2000 issue of The Atlantic Monthly on industry-university partnerships (3/10/00).
The Future Arrives First in California - The need to educate record numbers of students, UC's research contributions to California's economy, and the University's initiatives to encourage diversity in a post-affirmative action era, published in Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 1999-2000.
Opportunities for Chinese and American Universities in the Knowledge-based Economy - Paper presented at the China-U.S. Joint Science Policy Seminar, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the first agreement between the People's Republic of China and the United States for the exchange of scientists and scholars, Beijing, China (10/25/99). Published in Proceedings of First Sino-US Science Policy Seminar (October 24-27, 1999), edited by Mu Rongping and W. A. Blanpied, Beijing, China: Science Press, 2000.
The Golden Fleece, Science Education, and U.S. Science Policy - Paper read at the Colloquium Series on the History of Science and Technology, University of California at Berkeley, 10 November 1997, and published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 143, No. 3 (9/99).
Robert Gordon Sproul - Sproul's presidency of the University, published in California Journal (11/99).
UC Wants More Transfers From Community Colleges - Opinion piece about UC's efforts to boost community college-to-UC transfers, published in the Los Angeles Times (9/20/99).
Letter to the Regents regarding the U.S. News and World Report rankings of universities (8/27/99).
Prepare Now for the Next Wave - Opinion piece about the large numbers of students who will seek access to California's colleges and universities in the next ten years, published in the Los Angeles Times (4/14/99).
Teach children to read? Higher education is lending a hand - Opinion piece about summer institutes for California's K-12 teachers sponsored by UC and CSU, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune (1/14/99).
A Three-Year Report to Alumni - Talk at the fall retreat of the Alumni Associations of the University of California (10/16/98).
It Takes Cash to Keep Ideas Flowing - Opinion piece about the need for public investment in education and research, published in the Los Angeles Times (9/25/98).
Tradition at the University of California - Transcript of remarks at The Regents' dinner (9/17/98).
The Future of the University of California - A personal view on the issues and challenges facing the University (revised 9/98).
After 209: Now We Must Raise Achievement of K-12 Kids - Opinion piece about UC's efforts to support and strengthen K-12 education, published in the San Jose Mercury-News (4/10/98).
Admission to the University of California - Opinion piece about the challenges of expanding opportunities for all promising students without regard to race and ethnicity, published in the San Francisco Chronicle (4/1/98). Reprinted in the Los Angeles Daily News, the Santa Barbara News-Press, and the Oakland Tribune.
California's Outreach - Published in On Common Ground, the journal of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute (Winter 1998).
Investing in California's Children - Transcript of a talk at the California Senate Fiscal Retreat, an annual policy forum for California political leaders sponsored by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and the UC California Policy Seminar, Berkeley (1/24/98).
The Role of the President of the University - Prepared for UC student newspapers (12/97) .
The Role of Research in the University of the Future - Address at The United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan (11/4/97).
California's Library Without Limits - Opinion piece about UC's digital library, originally published in the San Diego Union-Tribune (10/14/97).
Binational Development and the Quest for Knowledge - Transcript of a talk at the July 1997 ceremony to sign the Agreement of Cooperation with the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) in Mexico City. Also included are remarks by CONACYT's Director General Carlos Bazdresch Prada .
Partnership For Learning - Opinion piece about the benefits of a UC education, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune, theSanta Cruz Sentinel, and the Davis Enterprise (6/97).
Universities: At the Center of U.S. Research - An editorial in Science magazine (6/6/97).
Visions and Values: The Research University in Transition - The 19th Annual Pullias Lecture, University of Southern California (3/1/97).
Present Challenges of a Research University - Transcript of a talk at the conference "University in Transition," University of California, Berkeley (3/97).
Town and Gown Join Forces to Boost State - Opinion piece about UC's research partnerships with industry to ensure the State's economic leadership, published in the Los Angeles Times (12/31/96).
The Numbers Game and Graduate Education - Address at the Symposium on Graduate Education in the Biological Sciences for the 21st Century, University of California at San Francisco (10/2/96).
UC and the National Research Council Ratings of Graduate Programs - Commentary and excerpt from the May/June 1996 issue of Change magazine.
The California Solution - Keynote Address at the California Coalition on Science & Technology Summit, Sacramento (5/28/96).
UC and California's Future - Address at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco (5/2/96).
High Stakes for Knowledge - Opinion piece about the importance of funding university research, published in the Los Angeles Times (4/28/96).
America's Great Success Story -- The Land-Grant University, - California Agriculture magazine (3/96).
How to Improve U.S. Productivity, - Opinion piece about investing in university research and development to ensure continued intellectual and economic productivity, published in the San Francisco Chronicle (3/4/96).
Universities and the Knowledge-based Economy - Transcript of a talk by President Richard C. Atkinson at the California Senate Fiscal Retreat, an annual policy forum for California political leaders sponsored by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and the UC California Policy Seminar, Berkeley (2/3/96).
UC Is Unwaveringly Committed To Diversity - Opinion piece about UC's efforts to achieve diversity following the decision to end the use of race and gender factors in admissions, published in the Los Angeles Times(11/13/95).
[http://rca.ucsd.edu/comments/nrc.html Report to the Regents on the National Research Council's Study of Ph.D. Programs that ranked more than half of UC's 229 programs in the top 20 ](10/11/95)
Remarks of Richard C. Atkinson - Remarks to The Regents of the University of California on the occasion of being appointed president (8/18/95).
The Future of the Research University - Reprinted from Reinventing the University: Proceedings of a Symposium held at UCLA (6/23/94).
Equilibrium in the Research University - Published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, co-authored with Donald Tuzin, professor of Anthropology, UC San Diego (May/June 1992). This article is available in standard .html or in Adobe Acrobat .
[1] - American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution ] (1977)
[edit] Personal life
Atkinson is married to a fellow psychologist, Rita, with whom he coauthored a popular textbook. Their daughter Lynn is a retired neurosurgeon.
[edit] The Perry lawsuit
Atkinson's early years at UCSD were rocked by a bizarre scandal which had followed him there from Washington. An unemployed, formerly untenured, Harvard instructor, Lee H. Perry, represented by noted palimony[2] attorney Marvin Mitchelson, unsuccessfully sued him in San Diego Superior Court. She was unable to substantiate her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, and deceit.
The Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District would later summarize Perry's version of the facts as follows (it could only use her version because she was appealing from a demurrer):
- "Perry and Atkinson met in July 1976. Although Atkinson was married, he and Perry began having an intimate relationship which continued for more than a year. During that year, Perry and Atkinson developed a relationship of trust and confidence. In August 1977 Perry learned she was pregnant with Atkinson's child. When Perry told Atkinson, he became upset and urged her to have an abortion. Perry did not want to have an abortion, but Atkinson persisted. He told Perry that although he would like her to have his child, he wanted to postpone doing so for a year. He promised Perry that even if they were not together in a year, he would conceive a child with her by artificial insemination.
- Based on Atkinson's promise, Perry terminated her pregnancy by an abortion, causing her physical and mental pain. After the abortion, Perry discovered Atkinson had never intended to keep his promise of another baby. As a result, Perry became depressed, requiring psychiatric treatment, incurring extensive medical bills and losing six months of earnings." - Perry v. Atkinson, 195 Cal. App. 3d 14, 16 (1987).
Atkinson denied everything. Before trial, the Superior Court granted Atkinson's motion for summary judgment on the fraud and deceit claim as initially filed, and his demurrer to the claim as amended.
In 1986, the case proceeded to trial on the emotional distress claim. After three days, Atkinson settled for $250,000 without admitting liability, but Perry reserved the right to appeal on the fraud and deceit claim.
On September 25, 1987, the Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of that claim. The appellate court agreed with the trial court that allowing the liability sought by Perry would violate California's strong public policy of protecting reproductive privacy, as expressed in numerous cases and statutes:
- "In essence, Perry seeks judicial enforcement, by way of damages, of a promise to impregnate. The courts should not undertake the adjudication of promises and representations made by consenting adults regarding their sexual relationships." - Perry v. Atkinson, 195 Cal. App. 3d 14, 21 (1987).
The Supreme Court of California denied Perry's petition for review on January 7, 1988, which effectively ended the case. Some academic commentators believe that the scandal was one of the reasons Atkinson had to wait so long to become UC President.
[edit] Influence and Legacy as President of UC
In February 2001, Atkinson announced he was recommending elimination of the College Board's SAT I college entrance examination as a requirement for admission to the University of California. Students, he argued, should be tested on what they had actually achieved academically, not on the basis of “ill-defined notions of aptitude.” Atkinson’s challenge inaugurated a national debate on the relative merits of aptitude versus achievement tests and ultimately led to a major revision of the SAT I. The new SAT I, introduced in 2005, incorporates higher-level mathematics and a written essay to reflect the quantitative and writing skills students need for success in college-level work.
As president, Atkinson had to face some of the most contentious and complex issues in American higher education, from achieving diversity to managing a multi-billion dollar budget greater than that of many states. He will be remembered for his skill in guiding the University into the post-affirmative action age and for the creative and energetic leadership he brought to the nation's most distinguished public university.
In 2005, the unnamed Sixth College at UCSD moved to name the college in his honor. Around April 27, 2005, UCSD students were notified that Dr. Atkinson had withdrawn his name from further consideration as the future namesake of Sixth College. The decision was an abrupt surprise as Atkinson only a week earlier had told The San Diego Union-Tribune he would be "honored if the name were approved". Although student reception to the naming proposal was lukewarm, demonstrated opposition was generally meager with only conspicuous organized criticism by opponents desiring a more racially diverse name. The Perry scandal was not the subject of public criticism.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Eleanor Yang, "Naming of UCSD school sparks dispute; Sixth College should honor a noted Latino, some say", The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 18, 2005.
“Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards for 1977,” American Psychologist, January 1978, pp. 49-55.
William J. McGill, “Richard C. Atkinson: President-Elect of AAAS,” Science, Vol. 241, July 29, 1988, pp. 519-520.
Richard C. Atkinson, “The Golden Fleece, Science Education, and US Science Policy,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 143, No, 3, September 1999, pp. 407-417.
“Developing High-Technology Communities: San Diego,” report by Innovation Associates, Inc., for the U.S. Small Business Administration, March 2000.
Patricia A. Pelfrey, A Brief History of the University of California, Second Edition, (Center for Studies in Higher Education and University of California Press, 2004), pp. 78-89.
David S. Saxon, “Foreword,” The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson, ed. Patricia A. Pelfrey (University of California Press, 2007), pp. ix-xi
Raymond Smilor, Niall O’Donnell, Gregory Stein and Robert S. Welborn, III, “The Research University and the Development of High-Technology Centers in the United States,” Economic Development Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 3, August 2007, pp. 203-222.
[edit] External links
- Official Biography
- San Diego Reader account of Perry lawsuit
- President Richard C Atkinson's Home Page with more in-depth biographical information.
- Full text of Court of Appeal opinion - courtesy of California Continuing Education of the Bar
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