Conference honors legacy of a multidisciplinary scholar

Social scientists from around the world are gathering here today and tomorrow (Sept. 10-11) to celebrate the legacy of the late Donald Campbell, one of Lehigh’s most influential and multidisciplinary scholars.

“A Conference in Honor of Donald Campbell: Anthropologist, Cognitive Scientist, Methodologist, Philosopher, Psychologist, Sociologist” begins at 2 p.m. today in Room 200 of Linderman Library.

Campbell was University Professor of Social Relations, Psychology and Education at Lehigh from 1982 until his death in 1996. Previously, he served 26 years on the department of psychology at Northwestern University and three years as New York State Board of Regents Albert Schweitzer Professor at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Known for a self-deprecating wit, Campbell called himself a “dabbler.” He made contributions to a wide range of fields, including social psychology, philosophy, cognitive science, ethnocentrism, evolutionary epistemology, biological and social evolution, and more. In all of his intellectual pursuits, he was concerned with several central questions: How do people know? How do systems know? How can the quality of research be improved?

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Campbell also served as president of the American Psychological Association. He was the author of more than 200 papers and received APA’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution award. At least 17 books, many by his former students, have been dedicated to him.

Speakers at this week’s conference include philosophers, cognitive scientists and psychologists, members of Lehigh’s faculty and former students of Campbell’s. Topics include group psychology, cultural learning, cultural evolution and theory testing in social psychology.

The event is sponsored by the department of philosophy, the department of psychology, the department of religion studies, the department of sociology and anthropology, the cognitive science program, and the Institute for Interactive Studies.
 

Story by Kurt Pfitzer