Merlin C. Wittrock

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Merlin Wittrock is doubly honored this year in that his Distinguished Teaching Award is designated as the Award for Distinction in Graduate Teaching. Wittrock is known not only for his classroom techniques but also for the wide variety of teaching materials he has developed for students at the elementary, secondary and collegiate levels. As a professor of education at UCLA, he helped formulate and then chaired the learning and instruction master’s and doctoral degree programs, which now attracts 10 times as many student applicants as the program can accommodate. Wittrock has also been elected and re-elected by his colleagues to serve as head of the division of educational psychology, which gives him responsibility for developing the curricula and degree programs within the division.

Wittrock is perhaps best known for developing effective procedures for the teaching of reading to children, learning-disabled adults and various minority groups. During the last 10 years, he has authored a popular, nationally-used basal reading series that delights thousands of elementary school children each year. He has had special success with methods for the teaching of reading comprehension to functionally illiterate young adults who were not previously able or inclined to learn to read. The U.S. Army has adopted many of his materials and procedures in its educational programs. At UCLA, Wittrock’s course on learning and education, which critically assesses different psychological theories of learning, attracts students from various majors all over campus and is probably the single-most popular, non-required course in education. Because of his many accomplishments, Wittrock has a well-deserved reputation as an educator of unusual talents.