FACULTY SUPPORT

The Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher Green and Gold Professorship in Psychology

Heinz Ansbacher was a revered and longtime member of the UVM psychology faculty, teaching from 1946 until his retirement in 1970.

Heinz and his wife Rowena, also a scholar, worked directly with the renowned psychologist Alfred Adler and came to be considered among the leading early followers of the Adlerian school of thought.

When Heinz reached the age of 100 in 2004, his four sons, Max Ansbacher '57, Ben, Ted '68 and Charles, celebrated the occasion by establishing the Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher Green and Gold Professorship in Psychology to honor their parents' legacy of scholarship, writing, and research.

"My brothers and I are delighted that through this endowed professorship the teaching of Adlerian psychology as espoused by our mother and father will be further encouraged at UVM for generations to come," said Max Ansbacher, president of Ansbacher Investment Management, Inc.

Rex L. Forehand, an expert in parenting with a distinguished career in teaching, research, and writing spanning more than three decades, was selected as UVM's Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher Green and Gold Professor in Psychology.

"The endowed professorship has facilitated my work in several ways," he says. "First, the funds from the endowment allow me to move my grant-funded research program to a new level that I could not otherwise reach. I have the resources to hire the 'person power' needed to study and intervene effectively with families experiencing distress."

Forehand says the endowment also affords him the ability to take graduate students with him on trips to meetings that provide opportunities to share findings with other professionals — "a real learning experience for students," he says.

"Second, to hold an endowed professorship opens doors for me within and outside the University of Vermont. It makes a difference to be able to say proudly, 'I am the Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher Professor of Psychology.'"

Forehand says he met Dr. Ansbacher on several occasions, including his 100th birthday celebration lunch. "He was truly a scholar and a gentleman," he says. "Holding an endowed professorship in his and Rowena's names is indeed an honor."