Rice - School of Social Sciences

A Note from the First Dean

Joseph Cooper

As the School of Social Sciences nears its thirtieth anniversary, I want to pay tribute to President Norman Hackerman, who recently passed away.In so doing, I want to recount and acknowledge the critical role he played in the

establishment of the School. The simple truth is that the School of Social Sciences at Rice would not have been created without his leadership, wisdom, and support.

In the mid-1970’s Dr. Hackerman decided that the School of Natural Sciences and Engineering should be split into separate Schools. Having accomplished that, he also decided that the School of Humanities and Social Sciences should be split into separate Schools. On its face this was a far more venturesome and innovative decision than the decision to split Science and Engineering. Our numbers were small-----there were only some 40-50 faculty in the five Departments that were included in the new school----- Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology. A more conventional administrator would not have even considered such a step. Nor did President Hackerman act under pressure from anyone and my guess is that it required some selling to the Board. But he did create a School of Social Sciences and did so with the warm support and encouragement of the Provost, Frank Vandiver, and the Dean of Humanities, Bill Topazio. The support of the latter is especially noteworthy---there are few Deans that would actively support any loss of turf. He, along with Hackerman and Vandiver, were very special people.

What, then, was the rationale for the new School. At heart, it was that the Social Sciences, though quite new to Rice and dating in faculty and Departments largely from the transition of Rice Institute into Rice University in the 1960’s, were an important part of any University and needed to flourish and gain in reputation and accomplishment, if the University was to realize its high ambitions as a University. The corollary was that to do so we needed to control our own fate. President Hackerman had faith that, if we were given the opportunity, we would seize it and develop in ways that would not have been possible if we had remained a component of a much larger Division, even one with as fair, supportive, and good-spirited a Dean as Bill Topazio.

I should note that the creation of the School did not mean any special or added largess placed in our hands. President Hackerman did not have the funds and in any event special treatment understandably would have caused an uproar. So we started with the existing budgets of the Departments and with cramped and inadequate space in Sewall Hall amidst the musicians. What Dr. Hackerman did give us was more valuable-----the opportunity to make our own way, freedom to flexibly administer our resources, including Chairs, a due share of expanding University resources, and most important of all, perhaps, warm and strong encouragement and support. As a Dean, I always knew that President Hackerman was our friend and supporter.

I believe that the Social Sciences at Rice in my time and after have vindicated his faith. He was an extraordinary President and his positive contributions to the University as a whole, not just the Social Sciences, need to be understood and valued. He did have a brusque manner, but that manner hid a warm heart, dedication to academic values, unusual personal discipline, and a deep understanding of human beings and their frailties. He was simply the best University President I have encountered over fifty years of service at four major Universities and we were all so very fortunate to have him as our President for more than a decade.

Joseph Cooper
Dean of Social Sciences, 1979-87

Reflections on Psychology and Social Science at Rice

William C. Howell
Adjunct Professor of Psychology

I have, over the years, had occasion to reminisce with former students, colleagues and friends about the early days of what might be called the “modern era of social science” at Rice University—a period beginning around the mid-1960s during which the School and its current departments evolved. Having been personally involved in this evolution almost from the start, my first-hand account of those trying yet rewarding experiences has generally been received with some interest—even suggestions that I preserve them in written form. What follows is my attempt to do that. I should make clear, however, that this is not intended as an authenticated history; it is merely a collection of personal reflections. I have made no attempt to trace documentation or verify dates.

I arrived on campus in July, 1968, several years after the initial decision to build a credible social/behavioral science component to complement Rice’s traditional strengths in physical science, mathematics, engineering, and selected humanities. The decision was attributable mainly to the vision of then-president Kenneth Pitzer and the unprecedented flow of federal and foundation money at the time into the expansion of university programs, facilities and faculties nationwide. Seizing the moment, Rice was successful in obtaining several huge development grants, including Ford Foundation and National Science Foundation awards that were instrumental in building its social and behavioral science programs. Although neither had explicit disciplinary objectives (else they would not have been funded), the Ford grant was of particular benefit to the sociology and anthropology departments; the NSF grant, under which I was hired, to the psychology department (along with political science, a fledgling “math science” department and a few others).

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