11:24 a.m., Aug. 23, 2012--Samuel Gaertner, professor of psychology at the University of Delaware and a recognized expert on discrimination and prejudice, will receive the 2012 Career Contribution Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).

The award was established last year to honor the recipients for "distinguished scholarly contributions across long and productive careers" and to recognize "senior scholars who have pioneered new directions of research, made important and enduring contributions and created a substantial body of work."

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In announcing Gaertner's selection, the society cited his "extensive laboratory and field research" and added, "For more than a third of a century, Samuel Gaertner has been a major contributor to social psychology's study of how to reduce intergroup prejudice, discrimination and conflict."

After earning his doctoral degree at City University of New York in 1970, Gaertner joined the UD faculty, where he mentored John Dovidio, who earned his doctorate at UD in 1977 and now is a psychology professor at Yale University. The two have partnered on numerous research projects studying intergroup relations and, in particular, investigating how prejudice, discrimination and intergroup conflict can be reduced when the members of two groups conceive of themselves as a single, more inclusive group.

Gaertner's numerous honors have included the prestigious Kurt Lewin Memorial Award and the Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, which he received twice with Dovidio. He has been a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, and is the current co-editor of Social Issues and Policy Review.

The SPSP will present its annual awards at the society's annual meeting in January.

Article by Ann Manser

Photo by Ambre Alexander