IN MEMORIAM
WILLIAM LEE HAYS
William Lee Hays died on December 3, 1995. With his
passing, the Department of Educational Psychology, the College of
Education, and the entire University community lost an outstanding
teacher, a superb administrator, an internationally renowned scholar,
and a wise and caring friend.
Bill Hays, son of Walker and Edith Hays, was
born in Clarksville, Texas, January 20, 1926. He spent his school
days in Greenville, Texas, where he graduated in 1942. He attended
Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, and East Texas State College
before obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree (1948) and a Master
of Science degree (1949) in psychology and mathematics from North
Texas State University. He began teaching mathematics and science
in the public schools of Greenville even before receiving his Bachelor
of Science degree. On July 23, 1950, he married Palma Jean Van Burkleo,
with whom he joyously shared the remainder of his life. They had
two children: a daughter, Leeann, and a son, Scott Palmer.
In 1955, Bill obtained a Ph.D. in psychology
from the University of Michigan. He was an instructor from 1954,
and he became an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology
at the University of Michigan in 1957. He enjoyed a distinguished
career at Michigan that lasted until 1973. During his tenure at Michigan,
in addition to his advancement in academic rank to professor, he
held several administrative posts, including graduate chairman of
the Department of Psychology; associate dean, and later dean, of
the College of Literature, Science, and Arts; and associate vice
president for academic affairs.
In 1973, Bill accepted the position of vice
president for instruction at the University of Georgia, where he
remained until 1977, at which time he came to The University of Texas
at Austin as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of
Psychology and Educational Psychology. Despite the heavy administrative
load, he voluntarily taught a course each semester. In 1979, he returned,
full time, to his first love, the classroom. During the following
years, he carried full-time teaching loads even as he was lured back
into administrative work, first as graduate advisor (1981-1983) and
later as department chairman (1984-1993) for the Department of Educational
Psychology. In 1982, he was recognized with an Outstanding Graduate
Teaching Award, and, in 1985, he was named the Charles H. Spence
Centennial Professor in Education.
Bill saw the university as a noble and important
mechanism in the search for truth and knowledge. He admired the strengths
and purposes of universities. As an administrator, he strove to make
the institutions he served fulfill their mission, and he adjusted,
to the extent principle would allow, with the procedures, postures,
and pretenses he encountered. He cared little for the pomp, more
for the circumstance-the traditions that spoke to continuity of the
enterprise, its values, and its worth. His love of history was one
indication of his sense of tradition and place in time. In his rare
free moments he could be found chatting about current events, politics,
books, and movies. He was rarely without an opinion, and nothing
stood in isolation. He placed every topic, text, and happening in
relation to others-he factored and rotated them, he compared and
correlated them, and he partialed out the worthy from the unworthy.
Being a friend and colleague was both an education and a joy. His
wit and sense of humor were legendary and he was particularly adept
at self-deprecation.
There can be little doubt that his national
and international reputation is substantially traceable largely to
a textbook he wrote, Statistics, that was originally published
in 1963 and is now in its fifth edition and contains more than one
thousand pages. During a period of over thirty years, he averaged
over a hundred citations per year listed in the Social Sciences Citation
Index. When his book was published, most statistics textbooks could
be roughly classified as texts in applied mathematics or as recipe-type
cookbooks. For students in many social science
areas, the mathematical prerequisites for the mathematically oriented
texts precluded their use, and almost by default, the cookbook became
the norm. Although it is possible to bake a good cake with a good
recipe, recipes are meager intellectual fare for the brighter student.
In the book that Bill Hays wrote, he managed to find some middle
ground that made it possible for a student to learn many of the popular
recipes and at the same time to develop an understanding and appreciation
of the whole enterprise of inference in the face of uncertainty.
He did this by providing a richness of context and by employing a
conversational style that neither sacrificed necessary rigor nor
insulted the reader. Professor Hays was one of the first to recognize
and do something about filling the middle ground. After more than
three decades, no one has done it better. This book, his other two
books, and over eighty papers and reviews are testimony to the quality
and usefulness of his thought.
Bill Hays was the consummate teacher. He taught
from his teenage years through his sixties. Through his text, he taught
students of psychology and the social sciences the world over and through
his presence he taught us, his colleagues. He was a member of as many
as fifty dissertation committees, chairing six or eight. He spent uncountable
hours with students. He brought to each dissertation committee meeting
the technical expertise expected of a world renowned statistician and
scholar. His wisdom and unusual common sense were inspired and inspiring.
We mourn the silence of his voice and the loss of his wisdom.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This Memorial Resolution was prepared by a Special Committee
consisting of Professors Earl Jennings (Chairman), Beeman N. Phillips,
and Diane L. Schallert. |
