Remembering William Shadish, Founding Faculty Member
March 29, 2016
William Shadish, professor of quantitative psychology in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts and one of UC Merced’s 13 founding faculty members, died at his home March 27.
Shadish joined UC Merced in 2003, before there were any students or buildings, to help build a new research university with high-quality education and research programs in Psychological Sciences.
He designed the psychology major, which is the second largest on campus, and led the review that resulted in UC Merced’s second Ph.D. program — Psychological Sciences — which is now home to approximately 40 graduate students. Shadish also served on numerous faculty search committees, which led eventually to the hiring of 15 colleagues who joined him in the academic unit. Additionally, he was the campus’ second Distinguished Professor and earned the Academic Senate Distinguished Research Award in 2011.
During his tenure at UC Merced, Shadish spent time on almost every major Academic Senate committee and participated in countless activities in support of the campus’s mission. In 2015, he received the Dr. Fred Spiess Award for Distinguished Service from the Academic Senate in recognition of his tireless work for UC Merced.
In a message to the campus community, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Thomas W. Peterson described Shadish as an extraordinary scientist whose work has been cited more than 22,500 times.
“He had a broad impact not only in psychological sciences, but also in other behavioral and health sciences,” Peterson wrote. “His main research contributions were to the field of behavioral sciences, including program evaluation, psychology of science, experimental design and meta-analysis.”
Shadish is survived by his wife, Cindy.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. April 17 at the Mariposa Funeral Home, 4918 Ninth St., Mariposa. Flowers for the service may be ordered through Merced Floral, 209-722-7444.
Details regarding an on-campus memorial are pending. Those seeking additional information may email Christine Howe in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.
