Sept. 24, 2015
STORRS, Conn. -
A memorial service for Sam L. Witryol, professor emeritus of psychology who taught at the Storrs campus for more than 60 years, will be held on Sunday, September 27 at 11:45 at the Trachten-Zachs Hillel House.

The Hillel House is located at 54 North Eagleville Road on the Storrs campus. Witryol passed away at the age of 93 on August 3.

He had a keen interest in UConn women’s athletics, and developed a strong camaraderie with the women’s coaches and their student-athletes. In 2009, members of the UConn women’s rowing team honored Witryol by naming their new Pocock racing shell after him, Witryol’s Wake, Professor Sam.

The memorial service will consist of a short liturgy and short remarks by invited speakers. Following the invited speakers other who care to can give individual recollections.

Witryol joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at UConn as a member of the clinical psychology program in 1949, after earning his undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University. His early research focused on dimensions of social intelligence.

Ten years later, his proposal to initiate a child and developmental psychology program became a reality. He headed that program for more than 30 years, and it developed into one of the country’s finest in the discipline.

Organized within the department, rather than as an interdisciplinary endeavor, it became a model for other universities. Witryol’s research specialty was children’s learning, particularly the development of curiosity in children, the role of motivation, and the effects of different incentives.

The quality of his research was a significant factor in his receipt of an NIH grant for a graduate training program in the psychology of mental retardation in the 1960s. Much of this work was conducted at the Mansfield Training School, and he was a trustee of that institution from 1976 to 1991.

Although he retired as a full-time professor in 1992, he continued to teach one course a semester for many years. Witryol’s service to the profession and to the University is also noteworthy.

He served as an associate editor of Psychological Reports, and was on the editorial boards of several important developmental journals. In recognition of his research on learning and of his professional contributions, he was elected fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Predeceased by his wife, Witryol is survived by his three children, Amy, Faith, and Walter.