In Memoriam: Howard M. Weiss

The Purdue I-O family is deeply saddened by the passing of Howard M. Weiss, Professor Emeritus. Howard joined the Purdue Psychology Department in 1975 after completing his PhD in Organizational Psychology at New York University. His long productive career at Purdue spanned from 1975 until 2012, when he retired from Purdue to become Department Head at Georgia Tech. He had also served as Head of the Purdue Psychology Department during his tenure here. He had recently retired from Georgia Tech in 2022 and held emeritus status there. Howard’s research had a major impact on the field of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology. He was a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Association for Psychological Sciences, and the American Psychological Association.

Many PAGSIP members will remember Howard’s research methods course, often co-taught with Elliot Smith from the Social area. Howard was known for his ability to analyze big-picture issues in I-O Psychology. He is most well-known for his development of Affective Events Theory with Russell Cropanzano. This work fostered a significant paradigm shift in I-O research, switching the focus to the experiences of employees, particularly their affective experiences at work, and how these experiences influence their behavior in the workplace. This work led to longitudinal studies which followed the affective experiences of employees across time. Together with Deborah Rupp, he further inspired scholarly conversations about person-centric work psychology, calling for research focused on the subjective experiences of workers as unique individuals. Many PAGSIP members benefitted from training on these research projects and continue this line of work.

Howard will be remembered for his outstanding theoretical contributions to the field of I-O Psychology. He was also a compassionate man willing to do whatever he could to help colleagues in need. He will be sorely missed.

Written by Carolyn Jagacinski