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IN MEMORIAM
ROYAL BURDICK EMBREE JR.
Royal Burdick Embree Jr., professor
emeritus of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin,
died October 16, 1984.
Royal was born in Bristol, Virginia,
on May 20, 1909. He spent his formative years in Lynchburg, Virginia,
graduating from Episcopal High School in 1926. Upon graduation from
high school he attended Washington and Lee University graduating with
a BA in psychology in 1929. He spent the following year (1930) at Ohio
State University earning an MA in English. From 1930 to 1933 he was
a teacher at Shenandoah College in Dayton, Virginia. He then assumed
the position of psychologist at the Connecticut School for Boys. His
next position was as a counselor at University High School and Minnesota
General College. From 1941 to 1947, he served as director of counseling
and teacher of psychology at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg,
Virginia. He was on military leave to the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946
working in personnel research, and saw combat during World War II. Upon
completion of his PhD at the University of Minnesota (1947), he left
the College of William and Mary to assume the position of associate
professor of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin.
He was the first director of the Educational Psychology Master of Education
School Counselor Program, serving in this capacity from the program's
inception in 1951 until his retirement in 1978. He was promoted to professor
in 1970, when he was also appointed as director of the Psychology Doctoral
Training Program in Educational Psychology Counseling. He was the program's
director until 1976.
Royal was a pioneer in the development
of the Texas Personnel and Guidance Association and became its first
president. Additionally, he was instrumental in organizing the Texas
Association of Counselors, Educators and Supervisors and in 1981 received
special recognition by the Texas Personnel and Guidance Association
and Texas Association of Counselors, Educators and Supervisors for his
pioneer work and many long years of service. From 1959 to 1966 he operated
eleven National Defense Education Act Institutes for counselors (under
the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education). In 1951 he was responsible
for developing the first certification program in Texas for the preparation
of school counselors. During his tenure at The University of Texas at
Austin he supervised over 40 PhD dissertations and more than 150 master's
reports and theses. He was named a fellow of the Division of Counseling
Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
Royal perceived very early in his career
that counseling was and would become an important adjunct to education.
As a teacher, a counselor, a professor, a colleague, and as a person,
he strove to epitomize this belief and perception. He cared little for
personal recognition but relished the accomplishments of others. There
can be little doubt that much of the recognition he received was due
to his single-minded devotion to counseling and its professional development.
An endowed presidential scholarship, funded by his students, colleagues,
family members, and others who were familiar with his work, has been
established in his name.
<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 Associate Professor Emeritus Richard Mowsesian (chair)
.
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