Celebrating our Retiring Faculty

Please join the Psychology Department in recognizing the distinguished contributions and service of our faculty who have retired during the 2018-2019 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, they can be sent to the Assistant to the Psychology Chair. Donations in honor of our faculty can be made here.

Cheryl Kaiser and Nancy Kenney

Associate Professor Nancy Kenney joined the UW Psychology Department in 1979. Nancy holds a joint appointment with the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies where she had been a member since 1976. She served a number of years in the department as the Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Training.  Nancy taught many undergraduate courses including the Psychobiology of Women and has been the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.  Kenney’s research addresses the ways in which reproductive technologies influence women’s lives.

Steve Buck

Professor Steven Buck joined the UW Psychology Department in 1978. Steven is an experimental psychologist with a keen interest in the perceptual and neural mechanisms of human color vision including the study of the unique characteristics of the colors brown and yellow.  He uses psychophysical techniques to study human color vision in order to link perception to the underlying neural substrates from retina to cortex.  Steven has taught many classes in the department including Sensory and Perceptual Processes and Human Color Vision. He also served as the Chair of Department and was appointed to the Arts and Sciences College Council were he represented the Natural Sciences.

Marsha Linehan

After more than four decades of pioneering research and developing dialectical behavior therapy, Dr. Marsha Linehan retired in Spring of 2019. In honor of this occasion, the UW Department of Psychology hosted two lectures exploring the journey and development of DBT, and the legacy of Dr. Linehan and her unparalleled impact within the global community and the field of psychology. Video of Drs. Comtois and Swales lectures can be viewed here.  Professor Marsha Linehan joined the UW Psychology Department in 1977. Marsha is the Director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics, a consortium of research projects developing new treatments and evaluating their efficacy for severely disordered and multi-diagnostic and suicidal populations. Her primary research interests are in the application of behavioral models to suicidal behaviors, drug abuse, and borderline personality disorders. Marsha has received numerous award throughout her career recognizing her clinical and research contributions to the study and treatment of suicidal behaviors, including the Louis I. Dublin Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Suicide, the Distinguished Research in Suicide Award (American Foundation of Suicide Prevention), and the creation of the Marsha Linehan Award for Outstanding Research in the Treatment of Suicidal Behavior established by the American Association of Suicidology.  She was also president of both the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy and of the Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12, American Psychological Association. In honor of her outstanding impact to the field of Psychology, the UW Department of Psychology launched a philanthropic campaign to create the Dr. Marsha Linehan Endowed Chair in Psychology.

Honoring Marsha Linehan

Congratulations on your impactful careers and your retirements, Nancy, Steven and Marsha!