Psychology Retirements

Please join the Psychology Department in recognizing the distinguished contributions and service of our faculty who retired during the 2016-2017 academic year. These faculty leave significant legacies in our undergraduate and graduate programs and we wish them well in their retirements. If you would like to send a memory or message of gratitude and congratulations along, those can be sent to Joanne Edwards. Donations in honor of our faculty can be made here.

David Barash		Miriam Bassok

Professor David Barash joined UW in 1973. David is an evolutionary psychologist who frequently taught in the UW Honors Program and taught seminars in psychology such as Ideas of Human Nature and the Psychology of Peace. David is a prolific public scholar, who frequently publishes opinion pieces about science, peace, and religion.

Professor Miriam Bassok joined UW in 1997. Miriam is a cognitive psychologist whose research explores problem solving and analogical reasoning. Miriam taught our undergraduate Cognitive Psychology course and was a long time director of the UW Psychology Honors Program through which she introduced our aspiring students to the research labs that became their thesis homes and ensured they had successful experiences.

Dr. Patricia Loesche was the Director of the Psychology Writing Center from its establishment in 1991. Patti also served as a lecturer in Psychology and taught a wide variety of undergraduate courses. She guest lectured widely on scientific writing in many psychology courses, and collaborated with faculty on the design and evaluation of writing assignments.  

Geoff Loftus		Jaime Olavarria

Professor Geoff Loftus joined UW in 1972. Geoff’s scholarship addresses human memory, visual perception, and statistics. Geoff is a highly regarded expert witness who has been instrumental in educating the courts about the science of eyewitness memory and his testimony has resulted in exonerations of those wrongly convicted by faulty eyewitness identification procedures. Geoff taught Probability and Statistics to thousands of psychology majors.

Professor Jaime Olavarria joined UW in 1990. Jaime’s scholarship explores the development, organization, and function of neuronal pathways in the visual system. Jaime taught our undergraduate course in Biopsychology and he led many Exploration Seminars taking UW undergraduates to Chile to learn about public and mental healthcare delivery systems.