The world of Industrial/Organizational Psychology lost one of its luminaries this past week. Dr. Irwin Goldstein passed away last week. He was also part of the TTS team as academic adviser and principal consultant. He was a friend and inspiration to many within and outside of our field. His friendship and professional contributions will be sorely missed, but the memory and proud legacy of his academic rigor and keen insight into organizational issues will remain forever.
Dr. Goldstein became affiliated with the University of Maryland at College Park in 1966 and served as Professor and Chair from 1981 to 1991. In 1991, he was selected to be Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In 2001, he was awarded the University of Maryland President’s Medal for “extraordinary contributions to the intellectual, cultural and social life of the University”. In 2003, he was selected to serve as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the thirteen campuses of the University System of Maryland.
His research career as an industrial-organizational psychologist focused on issues facing individuals, such as how they are selected, promoted, and trained by organizations. Additionally, Dr. Goldstein committed a significant portion of his research activities toward the examination of how climate within organizations affects human resource practices. Dr. Goldstein also had a strong interest in understand and resolving the constraints that affect people who live in organizations, such as the problems of race and gender discrimination.
Dr. Goldstein’s stature as an academic was reflected by the numerous roles he held on editorial boards as well as within professional organizations. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Human Factors Journal and as editor of the Frontiers Book Series for the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Goldstein was also honored by his election to serve as President of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
As a practitioner, Dr Goldstein assisted many large organizations to improve their human resources practices. His expertise often made him the first choice for assisting legally embattled organizations to rectify problematic human resources practices.