Jack Michael Tribute

Jack Michael presenting at the 1992 ABAI convention

A special recognition of Professor Jack Michael, Ph.D., Western Michigan University

I was one of Jack Michael’s MA and Ph.D. students at Western Michigan University (WMU) between 1975 and 1980. I was also his teaching assistant for a number of courses. During that time period I worked full time at the Kalamazoo Valley Multihandicap Center, a WMU psychology department practicum site, where Jack, his students, and others collaborated on dozens of verbal behavior research projects. Jack has been my teacher and mentor over the past 45 years, and I offer this section of my website as a tribute to him and his work.

Five of Jack Michael’s first 7 Ph.D. students at WMU, circa, 1977 (Mark Sundberg, Al Neal, Jayme Whitehead, Norm Peterson, Amy Barmierer (not Jack’s Ph.D. student), Marge Peterson (Vaughan) (not Jack’s Ph.D. student) and Mike Minervini. Jack’s two other Ph.D. students that are missing from this photo are Jim Kaye and Jim Cowardin

Jack Michael dedicated his career to teaching behavior analysis. One of his goals was to impart to students the verbal repertoires necessary to use the concepts and principles of behavior analysis to precisely analyze behavior in any context (Michael, 1995, 2004). In the process of teaching others, he was constantly working on furthering his own understanding of Skinner’s writings and refining various aspects along the way (e.g., establishing operations, positive and negative reinforcement, automatic reinforcement, codic and duplic relations). Jack was especially interested in Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior (VB). He argued, like Skinner, that an analysis of verbal behavior was essential for a complete account of complex human behavior. Here are a few papers that describe various aspects of Jack’s work, as well as some photos of him and some of his students.

Publications

Below is a collection of publications that pay tribute to Jack Michael.

Mabry, J. H. – Jack Michael’s appointments at the University of Houston and Arizona State University: Reflections from a former student.

Mabry, J. H. (2016). Jack Michael’s appointments at the University of Houston and Arizona State University: Reflections from a former student. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 32, 324–335.

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Esch, B. E., & Esch, J. W. – A bibliographic tribute to Jack Michael

Esch, B. E., & Esch, J. W. (2016). A bibliographic tribute to Jack Michael. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 32, 275–323.

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Esch, B. E., Esch, J. W., & Palmer, D. C. – Jack Michael’s Musing on the 60th Anniversary of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior

Esch, B. E., Esch, J. W., & Palmer, D. C. (2017). Jack Michael’s Musing on the 60th Anniversary of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 32, 275–323.

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Sundberg, M. L. – Recollections of Jack Michael and the application of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior.

Sundberg, M. L. (2017). Recollections of Jack Michael and the application of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 32, 275–323.

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Sundberg, M. L. – Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior: It is certainly about time.

Sundberg, M. L. (2017). Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior: It is certainly about time. Operants Magazine, 4, 17-21.

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