UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #179
KLAUSMEIER, HERBERT J.

KLAUSMEIER, Herbert J. (1915- )
Professor of Educational Psychology
At UW: 1952-1986

Interviewed: 1979	
Series: School of Education
Interviewer: Mark Van Pelt
Length: 1.5 hours

Origins of Department of Educational Psychology; Emphasis on Ph.D.; Use of TAs; Research and Development Center; Individually-guided education; Relations with DPI; Wisconsin Improvement Program; Team teaching; More on research and development; Effect of federal research funding; Lobbying in Washington, D.C. by colleagues.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:00	Introduction.

00:00:30	Early career.

00:02:11	How Department of Educational Psychology was formed; need for graduate program in educational psychology; importance of American Psychology Association and a formal degree title in psychology; large size of department of education; insufficient time available in educational psychology specialty under old requirements.

00:06:15	Nature of educational psychology program in 1960.

00:08:22	Changes in undergraduate program brought by reorganization; specialization in faculty brought the election system of one-credit modules; popularity of educational psychology courses; change in educational psychology credits required for certification.

00:12:30	Emergence of educational psychology graduate program; emphasis on Ph.D. degree; faculty recruitment policy changed after reorganization, seeking specialize faculty without teaching experience; problems of specialization; background of graduate students is changing from teaching to psychology and sociology; discouragement of students from taking a minor in education.

00:20:00	Impact of reorganization on research activities of the faculty; Lindley Stiles; first federal funding in 1956; increased emphasis on research.

00:25:53	Changes in educational psychology teaching load and teaching structure of department.

00:30:00	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:30:02	Current changes in composition of graduate program; reasons.

00:32:56	Use of teaching assistants.

00:37:45	Development of educational psychology research; origin of Research and Development (R&D) Center; development of center's focus; Individually Guided Education (IGE); Russell Way of Department of Public Instruction (DPI) obtaining funding for education materials development from Sears Roebuck Foundation in 1972; influence of IGE on state schools and its use in teacher training schools.

00:53:16	Relationship of IGE program and Wisconsin Improvement Program (WIP); John Guy Fowlkes; Edward Krug knew Klausmeier at Stanford while Klausmeier a graduate student; team teaching.

00:56:22	Influence of R&D Center on School of Education, particularly personnel.

00:59:32	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:59:34	Evolution of R&D Center; role of R&D Center, is problematic at present. R&D center not a route to tenure.

01:02:30	Impact of R&D Center on direction of research of School of Education; creation of a base of research for attraction of students and faculty improves teaching base; gives high prestige of School of Education.

01:05:33	Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) most heavily represented in R&D in early years; in last ten years, Educational Psychology, C&I and Educational Administration most heavily represented.

01:07:11	Isolation of R&D Center staff.

01:11:11	R&D Center impact on type and mode of research in education.

01:16:07	Professor not primary determiner of research direction, federal government is; this has changed within last fifteen years; switch from grant system to the contrast system; a competitive bidding system; degree of cooperation between R&D Centers and federal government; association of laboratory directors lobbies in Washington.

01:22:53	Analysis of impact of R&D Center on development of School of Education; Daniel Woolpert.

01:27:54	Concluding remarks.

01:31:12	End of side.

END