History of the Griffith Award

History of the Junior Award and the Richard M. Griffith Memorial Award

James L. Pate
Georgia State University

Introduction

Scholarly organizations establish award programs for numerous reasons that are varied and not necessarily mutually exclusive. Awards often are given to recognize outstanding contributions to the discipline or to the organization and may include monetary rewards, certificates, or plaques. Such awards may involve single instances of some outstanding attribute such as presenting the best paper at a meeting or publishing the best article in a journal or may involve long-term contributions of various kinds. The degree of specificity of the award differs within organizations and between organizations. In addition to recognizing contributions of members and to rewarding those members, scholarly organizations use awards of various kinds to attract new members and perhaps to retain members. For the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, a major award program was the Junior Award for best paper presented by a young scholar. The Richard M. Griffith Memorial Award replaced the Junior Award in the early 1970s. I will provide information about these two award programs is this essay and will present information about the Society’s other award programs, the Honorary Member for Life award and the Graduate Student Travel Award, in subsequent essays.

Junior Award

Prior to 1958, the Society gave no awards for outstanding papers, but at the 50th meeting, the Society designated two special award papers from those presented by members “who had not received the Ph.D. or had received it within the last five years” (Webb, 1959, p. 541). For 1958 through 1961, special award papers were identified, but beginning in 1962, Junior Awards were given. Prior to 1962, the papers were selected from among those presented by young scholars as described above, but from 1962 until the end of the Junior Award program, the papers of highest merit presented by young scholars was selected. It is implicit in special award years that the papers that were selected were the most meritorious or best papers, but that attribute was not stated. The recipients of those awards are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Junior Award (Special Award) Recipients (1958-1970)

Year	Philosophy	Psychology
1958	Joseph Margolis, Univ. of South Carolina	Warren Willingham, US Naval School of Aviation
1959	William T. Blackstone, University of Florida	Alfred E. Kuenzli, Southern Illinois University
1960	William T. Blackstone, University of Florida	Daniel Smersh Lordahl, Washington University
1961	William T. Blackstone, University of Florida	Dempsey F. Pennington, University of Alabama
1962	Donald W. Sherburne, Vanderbilt University	W. W. Dawson, US Army Medical Research Lab
1963	Richard A. Smyth, Univ. of North Carolina	Leonard E. Jarrard, Washington and Lee University
1964	John T. Wilcox, Emory University	Vesta C. Skees, University of Louisville
1965	Edward M. Galligan, Univ. of North Carolina	William P. Paré, Boston College
1966	Don Ihde, Southern Illinois University	Norman R. Remley, University of Florida
1967	George B. Thomas , University of Virginia	Henry B. van Twyver, University of Florida
1968	Robert L. Arrington, Georgia State University	Phillip R. Costanzo , University of Florida
1968	Thomas K. Hearns, Coll. of William and Mary
1969	John Beversluis, Emory University	Virgil V. McKenna, College of William and Mary
1969	James F. Harris, University of Georgia	Ben B. Morgan, Jr., University of Louisville
1970	Richard D. Parry, Agnes Scott College	Malcolm W. Huckabee, Univ. of Southern Miss.

A description of the selection procedure has not been found, but a Junior Award Committee existed from 1958 through 1966. Although the co-chairs of the Committee for 1958 through 1966 have not been identified, the chairs for 1967 through 1970 are listed in Table 1. Some past presidents served as the co-chairs of the Junior Award Committee, but some co-chairs had not been presidents of the SSPP. The means of selecting the chairs of the Junior Award Committee remains to be determined.

Table 2. Co-Chairs of the Junior Award (Special Award) Committees

	Philosophy		Psychology
Year	Co-Chair	Affiliation	Co-Chair	Affiliation
1967	Charles Bigger	Louisiana State University	Milton Hodge	University of Georgia
1968	Rubin Gotesky	Northern Illinois University	Leland E. Thune	Vanderbilt University
1969	Willis Moore	Southern Illinois University	Earl A. Alluisi	University of Louisville
1970	Lewis Hammond	University of Virginia	Milton Hodge	University of Georgia

For most years, one paper in each discipline was selected, but for two years (1968 and 1969), two awards were given in philosophy. Also, in 1969, but not in 1968, two awards were given in psychology. Twenty-nine Junior Awards or special awards were presented between 1958 and 1970 (inclusively), with 15 awards to philosophers and 14 awards to psychologists. The Society gave awards to 27 different people, with William Blackstone receiving the award for three consecutive years. He is the only person in the history of the Society to receive more than one award for best paper.
Continued participation in the Society and serving in leadership roles are indicators of the effectiveness of the award program. Blackstone, Sherburne, and Harris, three recipients of the awards, subsequently were elected president of the Society. Blackstone also served as a member of the Council and as secretary, and Sherburne served as a member of the Council and as treasurer. Arrington and Remley were members of the Council. Harris and Morgan participated in programs as recently as 2004. Thus, to some extent, the early award program served to attract new members and to retain some of those members. An analysis of participation of the winners in programs before and after the receipt of the award will be presented in another section of the SSPP history.

Transition to the Griffith Award

In 1971, two Junior Awards were given, but according to the proceedings of the meeting, the awards are “now denominated as Richard M. Griffith Memorial Awards” (Blackstone, 1971, p. 843). According to the proceedings, the winners in 1970 were listed as Junior Award winners, but they were notified that they had received the Griffith Award. Thus, the Griffith Award began in either 1970 or 1971, but for the present essay, I will assume that the Griffith Award began in 1971.

Richard M. Griffith Memorial Award

The recipients of the Griffith Award from 1971 through 2009 are shown in Table 3. The eligibility for the award was the same as during the Junior Award era, and the description of the papers as being of the highest merit continued. Through 1996, the candidates for the award had to be members, but beginning in 1997, candidates for the award were to be members or applicants for membership who are doctoral candidates. For candidates who have received the doctoral degree, it must have been received within the last five years, a condition that has existed from the inception of this award program.

Table 3. Griffith Award Recipients (1971-2009)

Year	Philosophy	Psychology
1971	Edward S. Shirley, LSU	George W. Menzer, University of Louisville
1972	Allen Gibbons, East Carolina University	L. James Shapiro, University of Manitoba
1973	Alan E. Fuchs, College of William and Mary	G. Rufus Sessions, Walter Reed Army Institute
1974	Roger J. Sullivan, Univ. South Carolina	Mary Ellen O'C. Chernovetz, Univ. of Tulsa
1975	Paul Tibbetts, University of Dayton	Frank Holly, U.S. Army Research Lab.
1976	George Graham, UAB	Louis M. Proenza, University of Georgia
1977	Gerald W. Casenave, Vanderbilt University	Mary G. Boyd, College of Charleston
1978	Jeffrey Tlumak, Vanderbilt University	Gerald P. Kreuger, Johns Hopkins University
1979	H. Scott Hestevold, University of Alabama	Richard A. Burns, Georgia Southwestern
1980	Mark C. Overvold, VCU	Sarah McLeod Miller, University of Virginia
1981	Peter J. Markie, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia	Sara Stokes Benzel, Georgia State University
1982	Alfred R. Mele, Davidson College	Michael N. O'Malley, University of Colorado
1983	Judith Andre, Old Dominion University	Lynn Percival, Naval Aerospace Med Res. Lab
1984	David N. James, Longwood College	Douglas E. Landon, Army Aeromedical Res. Lab
1985	Dorothy Coleman, Bowdoin College	Michael D. Chafetz, Tulane University
1986	Michael P. Smith, Davidson College
1987	Richard McCarty, East Carolina University	Carol S. Holding, University of Louisville
1988	James Robert Peters, Univ. of the South	Mark W. Scerbo, AT&T Systems
1989	Lila Luce, Univ. Alabama, Birmingham
1990	Piers Rawling, University of Georgia	Mary Lynne Dittmar, Univ. Alabama, Huntsville
1991	Kirk Ludwig, University of Florida	Kelly Gurley Lambert, Randolph-Macon College
1992	Robert Wilson, Cornell University	Wendy A. Rogers, Memphis State University
1993	Victoria McGeer, Vanderbilt University	David A. Washburn, Georgia State University
1994	Paul Davies, UNC Chapel Hill	Nick Haslam, New School for Social Research
1995	Steven Hales, University of Bloomsburg	Alfred Witkofsky, College of Charleston
1996	Claire Elise Katz, University of Memphis	Cecilia M. Acocella, Washington College
1997	Seth Holtzman, Murray State University	Leslee K. Pollina, Southeast Missouri State Univ.
1998	Michael P. Lynch, University of Mississippi	Harold H. Greene, CERT Morris Brown College
1999	Jonathan A. Waskan, Washington University	Michael J. Beran, Georgia State University
2000	Jennifer McKitrick, UAB	Thomas J. Capo, Auburn University
2001	David Shoemaker, Cal State - Northridge	John Paul Minda, University of Illinois
2002	Thomas Polger, University of Cincinnati	Samuel Fernandez-Carriba, Georgia State Univ.
2003	Chase B. Wrenn, University of Alabama	Claudio Cantalupo, Georgia State University
2004	Alan Coates, Vanderbilt University	William S. Helton, Wilmington College
2005	John Collins, East Carolina University	Dawn Morales, University of Pennsylvania
2006	Andrea Scarantino, Georgia State University	Lauren A. Taglialatela, Emory University
2007	Max Deutsch, East Carolina University
2008	Steven Todd, University of Connecticut
2009	Justin Tiehen, University of Puget Sound	Joshua Redford, University of Buffalo, SUNY

In 1981, a special award was given in philosophy to A. J. Mandt, Virginia Commonwealth University, because the Griffith Award Committee in philosophy could not distinguish between the quality of two of the papers. Thus, in the 39 years in which the Griffith Award has been given, 40 awards have been given in philosophy. In psychology, only 35 awards have been given with no award having been given in four years. In two years, no psychology submissions were received, and in two other years, the submitted papers were judged to be insufficiently meritorious to receive a Griffith Award.

One philosophy winner, Coleman, has been secretary and president, and another, Polger, has been a council member and will be president in 2011. Three other philosophy winners (Graham, Mckitrick, and Wrenn) have been council members. In psychology, Burns and Washburn have been secretary and subsequently president. Beran has been and is Treasurer. Seven psychology winners have served on the Council.

Griffith Committee Co-Chairs

Co-Chairs of the Griffith Committee for Psychology have been the immediate past president for psychology. Thus, each person served as co-chair for two years. The co-chairs of the Griffith Committee for philosophy were appointed for one- or two-year terms from 1971 until 1980 when the arrangement became the same as in psychology with each past philosophy president serving two years as co-chair of the Griffith Committee. Prior to 1980, some past presidents served as co-chairs, but other co-chairs were philosophers who never had been president (e.g., John Lachs) of the Society. Each co-chair established a committee to evaluate the submissions based on the written paper and the presentation of the paper. The number of committee members varied as a function of the number of papers submitted for the award.

Table 4. Co-Chairs of the Griffith Award Committees

Year	Philosophy	Psychology
1971	Maynard Adams, Univ. of North Carolina	Malcolm Arnoult, Texas Christian University
1972	Dwight Van de Vate, Univ. of Tennessee	Malcolm Arnoult, Texas Christian University
1973	William T. Blackstone, University of Georgia	Stanley B. Williams, College of William and Mary
1974	Douglas Browning, University of Texas	Stanley B. Williams, College of William and Mary
1975	Douglas Browning, University of Texas	Lelon J. Peacock, University of Georgia
1976	William T. Blackstone, University of Georgia	Lelon J. Peacock, University of Georgia
1977	Dwight Van de Vate, Univ. of Tennessee	Clyde E. Noble, University of Georgia
1978	Andrew J. Reck, Tulane University	Clyde E. Noble, University of Georgia
1979	John Lachs, Vanderbilt University	H. D. Kimmel, University of South Florida
1980	Donald Sherburne, Vanderbilt University	H. D. Kimmel, University of South Florida
1981	Donald Sherburne, Vanderbilt University	Ina McD. Bilodeau, Tulane University
1982	L. B. Cebik, University of Tennessee	Ina McD. Bilodeau, Tulane University
1983	L. B. Cebik, University of Tennessee	Arthur L. Irion, University of Missouri at St. Louis
1984	Donald S. Lee, Tulane University	Arthur L. Irion, University of Missouri at St. Louis
1985	Donald S. Lee, Tulane University	Arthur J. Riopelle, Louisiana State University
1986	Rem B. Edwards, University of Tennessee	Arthur J. Riopelle, Louisiana State University
1987	Rem B. Edwards, University of Tennessee	M. Carr Payne, Georgia Institute of Technology
1988	Nancy D. Simco, Memphis State University	M. Carr Payne, Georgia Institute of Technology
1989	Nancy D. Simco, Memphis State University	James L. Pate, Georgia State University
1990	Bowman L. Clark, University of Georgia	James L. Pate, Georgia State University
1991	Bowman L. Clark, University of Georgia	Stephen F. Davis, Emporia State University
1992	Sandra B. Rosenthal, Loyola University	Stephen F. Davis, Emporia State University
1993	Sandra B. Rosenthal, Loyola University	Joel S. Warm, University of Cincinnati
1994	James Harris, College of William and Mary	Joel S. Warm, University of Cincinnati
1995	James Harris, College of William and Mary	Richard A. Burns, Southeast Missouri State Univ.
1996	James Dye, Northern Illinois University	Richard A. Burns, Southeast Missouri State Univ.
1997	James Dye, Northern Illinois University	Duane M. Rumbaugh, Georgia State University
1998	William Bechtel, Georgia State University	Duane M. Rumbaugh, Georgia State University
1999	William Bechtel, Georgia State University	Ulric Neisser, Cornell University
2000	Dorothy Coleman, Coll. of William and Mary	Ulric Neisser, Cornell University
2001	Dorothy Coleman, Coll. of William and Mary	Roger Thomas, University of Georgia
2002	Robert Burton, University of Georgia	Roger Thomas, University of Georgia
2003	Robert Burton, University of Georgia	Thomas Cadwallader, Indiana State University
2004	Michael Hodges, Vanderbilt University	Thomas Cadwallader, Indiana State University
2005	Michael Hodges, Vanderbilt University	David A. Washburn, Georgia State University
2006	John Bickle, University of Cincinnati	David A. Washburn, Georgia State University
2007	John Bickle, University of Cincinnati	Debra Sue Pate, Jackson State University
2008	Nicholas Georgalis, University of Cincinnati	Debra Sue Pate, Jackson State University
2009	Nicholas Georgalis, East Carolina University	Hajime Otani, Central Michigan University

Description of the Award and Eligibility

From the beginning of the Griffith Award program, the committees selected the “paper of highest merit presented by members who have not yet received the doctoral degree or who have received it within the last five years” (Blackstone, 1971, p. 843). This description of the papers and the eligibility for the award remained the same until 1989, when “who have not yet received the doctoral degree or” was deleted from the statement in the proceedings (Burns, 1989, p. 1539). Whether the requirement had been changed or the proceedings were modified without an actual change in requirements for eligibility remains to be determined. Then in 1997, the requirement was restated as “members or applicants for membership who are doctoral candidates or have received the doctoral degree within the past five years” (Coleman, 1997, p. 1364).

Honorarium and Funding Source

The honorarium was $100.00 for each winner from the inception of the award program in 1958 until recently when the honorarium was increased to $300.00 for each winner. The funds for the award were provided from the treasury of the Society from the beginning of the award program through 1970. Since then, the funds from the award have been from the Richard M. Griffith Memorial Fund, which was administered by Mary Ellen Curtin, one of Dr. Griffith colleagues at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Following her retirement, Dr. Curtin transferred the money from the Griffith Fund to the SSPP, where the funds have remained separate from the general fund.

Richard M. Griffith, Jr.

Richard M. Griffith, Jr. was elected a member of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology in 1951 in Roanoke, Virginia, at the 49th meeting and remained a member until his death in 1969. He and his students presented a variety of papers at meetings from 1950 until 1965, and he served on the Local Arrangements Committee in 1964 when he represented the Kentucky Psychological Association in making arrangements for the joint meeting of the SSPP and the Kentucky Psychological Association.

Griffith was born in Paducah, Kentucky on September 2, 1921, and was killed in an automobile accident in February 1969. He received the Bachelor of Science degree in 1943, the Master of Arts degree in 1947, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1950, all from the University of Kentucky. His master’s thesis was entitled “An Evaluation of an Experimental Form of a College Entrance Examination.” His dissertation was entitled “Typical Dreams: A Statistical Study of Personality Correlates,” which he apparently presented in preliminary form at the 1950 SSPP meeting.
In addition to research about personality and clinical topics, he performed research on horse betting, which is not surprising given that he was in Lexington, Kentucky. He also organized, in conjunction with Erwin W. Straus, conferences about memory, will, and other topics, the proceedings of which they published in a series of books.
Obviously, Griffith’s monetary contribution to the Southern Society has been immensely valuable in that the award program has attracted many young scholars who have become leaders of the Society. The extent to which people have remained members because they received the award is difficult to determine, and certainly a large number of award recipients have not maintained their membership. Nonetheless, the Griffith Award program and the other award programs of the Society are very important components of the Society.

References

Blackstone, W. T (1971). Proceedings of the sixty-third annual meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. American Psychologist, 26, 843-847.

Burns, R. A.(1989). Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology: Report of the eighty-first annual meeting. American Psychologist, 44, 1539.

Coleman, D. (1997). Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology: Report of the eighty-ninth annual meeting. American Psychologist, 52, 1364-1365.

Webb, W. B. (1959). Proceedings of the fiftieth annual meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. American Psychologist, 14, 540-543.