SIUE Presents Honorary Degree to Henry Roediger III
Henry L. (Roddy) Roediger III, PhD, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville during its May 2022 commencement exercises. The SIU Board of Trustees approved the presentation during its December meeting on the Carbondale campus.
Roediger is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished Professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. A world-renowned cognitive scientist, Roediger has more than 50 years of experience studying how the human mind works with a special interest in learning and memory. He has researched extensively on false memory, when people remember events differently from the way they occurred. Roediger also studies retrieval practice to aid learning, especially in educational settings, and he examines collective memory, which describes how people in groups remember and identify with their shared past.
“Dr. Roediger’s extensive research on learning and memory has inspired students and faculty at SIUE and around the world,” said SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor, PhD. “Our mission to provide students with a transformative educational experience relies on the work of such scholars as Dr. Roediger. We are pleased to honor Dr. Roediger with this honorary degree in celebration of his valuable contributions to the field of psychology.”
“I am deeply appreciative of this honor,” Roediger said. “I have visited SIUE several times to give talks, and I have always been impressed by the students and faculty, as well as the beautiful campus. I greatly appreciate being recognized with a Doctor of Humane Letters.”
Roediger, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, has served as president of the Association of Psychological Science and several other associations of psychologists. He has published more than 350 articles and chapters on various aspects of remembering, co-authored four books and co-edited 10 others.
Roediger is a recipient of numerous awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and an honorary doctorate from Purdue University. He has also received the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the John P. McGovern Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the William James Fellow Award from the Association on Psychological Science, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association.
Roediger earned a bachelor’s from Washington & Lee University and a doctorate from Yale University. He taught at Purdue University, Rice University and the University of Toronto before joining Washington University in 1996.
Photo: Henry L. (Roddy) Roediger III, PhD.
