- contributed by Lizette Royer Barton.
Dr. David B. Baker, Margaret Clark Morgan Executive Director of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, is retiring.
Let’s recap shall we?
Dave came to The University of Akron in 1999 to take over as the director of the Archives of the History of American Psychology when founding director Dr. John Popplestone retired. At that time the archives, AHAP as it was known, was housed in the basement of an old department store, the Polsky Building. No world class reading room. No National Museum of Psychology. No hands-on museums and archives certificate program for students. No online History of Psychology course.
Heck, there weren’t even windows.
But the artifacts and the manuscript collections were there and Dave’s vision was there. And in his 21 years at The University of Akron, Dr. David Baker was able to turn his vision for the archives into a reality.
Dave’s dedication, leadership, and relentless fundraising efforts produced the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology – a world-renowned archival research center and home to the Institute for Human Science and Culture and the National Museum of Psychology
Dr. David B. Baker’s legacy is secure.
And sure, professional success and accolades are wonderful. But what really counts in life is whether a person is kind, honest, genuine, and a friend. And Dave was all those things, and more, to so many. A mentor, a colleague, a professor, a friend, a boss, a golf buddy. Dave is the real deal and we sure are going to miss him.
We asked many of his close friends and colleagues to record a short video to thank Dave and wish him well on his retirement. As you can see from the resulting video, a lot of people are going to miss him.
All that’s left for Dave to do now is ride – or boat – off into the sunset.
