William J. McGill

William James McGill (February 27, 1922 – October 19, 1997) was a distinguished psychologist, author and academic administrator. He was born in New York, New York. His father was a musician and labor organizer. He attended parochial Catholic schools and in 1939 began his college education at Fordham University, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology. In 1953 he was awarded a doctorate in experimental psychology from Harvard University.

McGill was an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology until 1956 and then joined Columbia. He was chairman of the psychology department from 1961 to 1963 and left in 1965 to help found a psychology department at the University of California, San Diego. In 1968 he accepted the job of chancellor at U.C.S.D. after the first five job finalists had turned it down.

In 1970 he left California to become the first Catholic president of Columbia University from 1970 to 1980.

References

* Knubel, Fred. [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/07/13.html Ex-President Wm. McGill Dead at 75.] "Columbia University Record." Vol. 23, No. 7 October 24, 1997. Accessed February 22, 2007.
* "William James McGill." "Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives", Volume 5: 1997-1999. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
* "William James McGill." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007.