Morton W. Weir

Morton W. Weir, born July 18, 1934, in Canton, Illinois, is an experimental psychologist and academic. After earning a BA from Knox College and an MA and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, he joined the department of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1960 and subsequently served in a number of administrative capacities, retiring from the chancellorship in 1993.

Education Weir graduated cum laude from Knox College in 1955 as a pre-medicine major. In 1958, he received an M.A. in experimental psychology from University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. a year later in the same field. On leave from the University of Illinois, he served as director of the Center for the Study of Youth Development, Boys Town, Nebraska (1979–80) and after retirement from administration at the University of Illinois, served as interim president of Knox College (1998–99) and as senior foundation representative, University of Illinois Foundation (1993–2000). His research and scholarship included learning and problem solving with children, behavioral genetics, and social policy. He served on a number of editorial boards of scientific journals; the National Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee, Project Head Start; the Developmental Behavioral Sciences Study Section, National Institutes of Health; commissioner and president, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; and on a number of other professional boards and committees. He was awarded an Alumni Achievement Award and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Knox College; the Reading Recovery Teacher Leader Award; the William Winter Award for Service by the University of Illinois Foundation and a Foreign Service Award from the Foreign Ministry of Japan.