George D. Stoddard (1897-1981)
American Educator
Dr. Stoddard was born in Carbondale, a small mining town in northeastern Pennsylvania. Educated at Pennsylvania State College and, after several
months of service as a reserve officer during World War I, at the University of Paris and the University of Iowa. He remained on the Iowa faculty for 17
years as professor of psychology and education, director of the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station, and dean of the Graduate School.
His work at Iowa focused on early childhood education and the psychology
of development, tests and measurements, and the nature of intelligence.
Epitomizing this phase of his 45-year professional career was his editorship
of the controversial 39th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of
Education, a two-volume study entitled, "Intelligence: Its Nature and
Nurture" (l940). The controversy centered on such issues as the fixity or
changeability of the I.Q., the effect of environmental experience on mental
growth, gene-related factors, the racial distribution of intelligence, and
the validity of intelligence tests. The capstone of his extensive work in
this field was "The Meaning of Intelligence" (1943, 10 printings).
A four-year assignment during World War II as New York State's
Commissioner of Education marked a major shift in Dr. Stoddard's career from
teaching and research to educational administration, a period that lasted
from l942 to his retirement in l969. After the war, Dr. Stoddard spent seven
eventful years as president of the University of Illinois. Following this,
he spent 12 years at New York University, first as director of the the
University's self-study project and later as dean of education, and, from
l960 to l964, as Chancellor and Executive Vice President. After his
retirement as an administrator, he conducted seminars at the University on
educational psychology and higher education, l965 to l967. Dr. Stoddard
returned to administration in l967 for two years as Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs at Long Island University and then as Chancellor.
Other activities during his career included membership on the U.S.
National Commission for UNESCO (l945-l95l), an educational mission to Japan
(1946), and a series of assignments in international education in Korea,
Iran, and East Africa. He also served for many years on the boards of the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York and the Shakespeare
Festival Theatre and Academy (Stratford, Connecticut). He played an active
role for many years in the development and promotion of educational
television in the formative years of that medium.
Dr. Stoddard was the author or editor of over a dozen books, including,
in addition to those mentioned above, "Krebiozen: The Great Cancer Mystery"
(1955), "The Dual Progress Plan" (1961), "The Outlook for American Education"
(1974), and "Pursuit of Education, an Autobiography" (1981). He also
published a large number of articles and reports in various journals. He
served as moderator of the Unitarian Association and was a life member of its
Laymen's League. He received l6 honorary degrees and the G. Stanley Hall
medal (developmental psychology) of the American Psychological Association.
To sum up, Dr. Stoddard's career reflected his long-standing conviction
that the profession of education is a uniquely powerful force for the
advancement of citizenship. As a liberal and a humanist who was never
indifferent to matters of importance in human affairs, his personal motto
was: "We are free in all respects save one; we are not free to tolerate the
destruction of our freedom."
Philip H. Stoddard
Bethesda, Maryland
November, 2000
© 2000
Philip H. Stoddard Reproduced with permission
