William G. Perry

Who was William G. Perry?

William G. Perry, Jr. was a well-known educational psychologist who studied the cognitive development of students during their college years. He was a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founder and longtime director of the Bureau of Study Counsel. While at Harvard, he developed his theory of the intellectual and cognitive development of college-age students through a 15-year study during the 1950s and 1960s. He published his work in 1970 as Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years. His work was very influential in the field of student development. Perry also translated, with Alsten Hurd Chase, Homer's Iliad. He was born in Paris.