For more than 50 years, Dr. Joseph L. White enjoyed a distinguished career in psychology and mental health as an administrator, clinical supervisor, writer, consultant and practicing psychologist. He was professor emeritus of social sciences at UCI, where he spent most of his career as a teacher, supervising psychologist, mentor and director of ethnic studies and cross-cultural programs. He helped found the Cross-Cultural Center – the first of its kind in the University of California system – and it’s fitting that his benevolent image continues to oversee its mission.

Dr. White was a pioneer. In 1961, he became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology at Michigan State University and one of only five African Americans in the country to hold a doctorate in psychology. Founding the California Educational Opportunity Program, which helped more than 300,000 minority students achieve college degrees; and mentored more than 100 Ph.D. students in psychology. He was a co-founder of the Association of Black Psychologists.

In 1969, Dr. White was recruited to UCI by founding Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. as a professor in the Program in Comparative Culture and director of the Black Studies Program. He held appointments in the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior. His 1970 article “Toward a Black Psychology,” questioning traditional psychological theories that were inadequate to understanding African American culture, is one of the seminal documents in the field of black psychology. His books include The Psychology of Blacks: An African-American Perspective (1984), The Troubled Adolescent (1989) and Black Man Emerging (1999). At UCI he founded the Cross-Cultural Center, the first of its kind in the University of California system, and the Counseling Center.

Dr. White received many honors for his work in challenging existing psychological understanding of ethnic minorities and in advancing opportunities for African American students. He received the UCI Alumni Association’s Extraordinarius Award in 2004. Additionally, UCI honors him with the annual Joseph L. White Lecture during the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.

Credit: UC Irvine Website (excerpt), Written as an In Memoriam by Thomas Parham,
Former Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs and Howard Gillman, Chancellor.

Credit, UC Irvine website, written as a memoriam by Dr. Parham, former Vice chancellor, Student Affairs and Howard Gillman, Chancellor