Purdue News
Purdue News
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June 22, 2004 School of Education dean, alumnus honored with Finnish doctorateWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The dean of Purdue University's School of Education and a 1947 Purdue Nobel-Prize winning alumnus received honorary doctorates last month from Finland's second-largest university.
The University of Jyvaskyla (pronounced yoo-VES-kyoo-la) awarded honorary doctorates to Dean George Hynd and Ben Roy Mottelson, who earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Purdue, along with 12 other distinguished scientists, researchers and others at the tops of their fields. Hynd, who was honored for his research in the neurobiological basis of learning and behavioral disabilities in children, said it is rare for education researchers to be recognized in this way, and he is pleased to see scholarship in the field of education recognized in the same way as disciplines such as chemistry or engineering. "In the past, research in education did not commonly rise to the level of international recognition as in the hard sciences," he said. "Being chosen for this honor shows that research on issues important to education is beginning to attract increased recognition internationally, similar to that in what has typically been referred to as the hard sciences." In 1986 Hynd spent six months at the University of Jyvaskyla on a Fulbright Fellowship performing brain-imaging research. Since then he has continued to collaborate with Jyvaskyla faculty, primarily psychophysiologist Heikki L. Lyytinen. He has contributed 11 books, 123 refereed journal articles and 116 professional publications to his field. Some of his awards include the Senior Scientist Award from the American Psychological Association in 2002, Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture for the Orton Dyslexia Society in 1998 and Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in 1986. Before being named dean of Purdue's School of Education in July 2003, Hynd had been a member of the University of Georgia faculty for 24 years. His previous administrative experience includes serving as director of the School of Professional Studies, chair for the division for the education of exceptional children and chairman of the school psychology program. He also was the Distinguished Research Professor of Special Education at Georgia. A Chicago native, Mottelson earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Purdue in 1947 and master's and doctoral degrees in physics from Harvard University in 1948 and 1950, respectively. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1975 for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection. He also has been awarded numerous other honors and honorary doctorates from many universities, including Purdue in 1968. Hynd said receiving the honorary doctorate with Mottelson made him proud to be associated with Purdue, which accounted for two of the 14 honorees. "I think our being honored together is representative of Purdue University and its long history of producing and attracting scholars who truly have produced research that is recognized and respected throughout the world," he said. "Sharing this honor with Dr. Mottelson is a tribute to the academic quality at Purdue." The University of Jyvaskyla has approximately 16,000 students from more than 60 countries. The university emphasizes international experiences and its students study at more than 150 foreign universities. Faculty have collaborated with researchers at more than 1,000 universities worldwide. Writers: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu; Matt Holsapple, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu Source: George W. Hynd, (765) 494-2336, ghynd@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu PHOTO CAPTION: A publication-quality photograph is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2004/hynd-doctorate.jpg
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