in memoriam: JOSEPH WHITE
Pioneering mental health professional, renowned scholar, and beloved teacher-mentor was an inspirational campus icon
In a Cross-Cultural Center meeting room, a portrait of UCI Professor Emeritus Joseph L. White looks contentedly over the daily meetings and activities of the many student groups who call the center home. The painting explodes with color, befitting a man who succeeded in bringing together people from all races and cultures to share equally in the American dream.
The artwork was commissioned for the 2006 dedication of the meeting room in his honor. Kenneth Bentley, a UCI alum who counts himself among the many who considered White a cherished friend and mentor, knew that a plaque wouldn’t be good enough.
“We were trying to think of a way to let future generations of students know who Dr. White is, what he’s all about,” Bentley says. “And we thought a painting would say a lot.”
The portrait serves as a tribute to the man affectionately referred to as the “godfather of black psychology” by students, mentees, and colleagues. White passed away Nov. 21 at the age of 84, but his profound influence will continue to be felt both on campus and in the realms of higher education and psychology.
For more than 50 years, White enjoyed a distinguished career in psychology and mental health as an administrator, clinical supervisor, writer, consultant, and practicing psychologist. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus of social sciences at UCI, where he spent most of his career as a teacher, supervising psychologist, mentor, and director of ethnic studies and cross-cultural programs. He helped found the Cross- Cultural Center – the first of its kind in the University of California system – and it’s fitting that his benevolent image continues to oversee its mission.
At the height of the civil rights movement, White emerged as a powerful voice of change, challenging psychologists to better understand the unique experiences of ethnic minorities. He is widely seen as a pioneer in the contemporary field of black psychology, and in 1968, he helped found the Association of Black Psychologists.
His seminal article in Ebony magazine in 1970, “Toward a Black Psychology,” also was instrumental in beginning the modern era of African American and ethnic psychology. It earned him the sobriquet “godfather of black psychology.” Other ethnic minorities, women, and the LGBT community adopted the same approaches, and his work paved the way for multicultural studies at American universities. Each year, UCI honors the trailblazing psychologist with the Dr. Joseph L. White Lecture series during the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium. Speakers have included Cornel West and Harry Belafonte.
“Joe White was an icon for all of us who aspire to be as solid a mentor as he and a beacon for everyone committed to making the university that rare place where everyone – both in spite of and because of their diverse backgrounds – will thrive,” says Bill Maurer, dean of the School of Social Sciences. “He showed us how to push our research outside our own comfort zones and bring it into the lecture hall, the seminar, the mentoring session – indeed, the warp and weft of this richly diverse campus.”
White was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Dec. 19, 1932. Upon completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at San Francisco State University, he was accepted into the clinical psychology doctoral program at Michigan State University. In 1961, he became the first African American there to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and, as he later recalled, became the first black psychologist he had ever seen.
Before joining UCI, White was part of the faculty and administration at both California State University, Long Beach, and San Francisco State.
During his time at Long Beach, White worked with Willie Brown, a college friend and former speaker of the California Assembly, to create the Educational Opportunity Program, which grew into a statewide network that’s helped more than 250,000 disadvantaged students study at CSU campuses over the past 40 years.
“Joseph White was clearly an inspiration for every student with whom he ever interacted,” Brown says. “His intellectual skills, his ability to go directly to the point with complex information, and his commitment to mentoring inspired others to be like him. He will be missed.” ●
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