Facilities

Reese Psychology and Education Building

The main building for the Department of Psychology and Education was designed and built in 1965-66 under the close supervision of members of the Department. The building consists of offices, lecture and seminar rooms, education curriculum library, laboratories, computer facilities, vivarium space, and a complex of shops for the construction of laboratory and teaching apparatus. Our building is named in memory of Thomas Whelan Reese and Ellen Pulford Reese, two long term members of the Department during the period when the building was planned and constructed.

T.W. Reese taught here for more than 30 years, from 1942 until his retirement in 1974. For 15 years, from 1954 to 1969, he was department chair; during this time the current building was erected. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University (St. Catherine's), and he served as Chief of the Intelligence Section of the Office of War Information and of two divisions of the Office of Strategic Services in London during World War II. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Turkey in the early 1950s and established the first psychology laboratory in that country. He published a number of articles on psychophysics and behavior analysis. His thousands of students remember his encouragement of excellence and his broad humanistic education.

Ellen Pulford Reese was associated with Mount Holyoke College for more than 50 years, from her first year in a temporary double in Porter Hall in 1944 to her retirement as Norma Cutts Defoe Professor of Psychology. She was internationally known for her work in behavior analysis and for many articles, films, and workshops teaching operant conditioning. In 1986 the American Psychological Association awarded her its Distinguished Contribution to Education in Psychology Award: and in 1992 she was named by the American Psychological Association as one of 100 women who made a major contribution throughout the history of psychology, in its Centennial Women's Heritage Exhibit. She was a naturalist, a world class dog breeder, and is beloved by generations of Mount Holyoke Students who went on to teach and write in psychology.

Gorse Child Study Center

Janna Aldrich, Acting Director
Barbara Sweeney, Associate Director

The Gorse Child Study Center was designed and built in 1952 and is located on the south side of the college campus. It is the laboratory school for the Department and contains a school for young children ages three to six. The school program includes three nursery groups and a kindergarten group; two nursery groups meet from 8:45 - 11:15 a.m. and one nursery group and the kindergarten group meet from 12:45 - 3:15 p.m. All programs meet five days a week. Observation booths located within the school provide students with the opportunity to observe the children in the classrooms. Psychology 331 students assist the classroom teachers, while observing and analyzing the social dynamics of the classroom and the development of individual children. Students taking pre-practica courses for teaching certification (Psychology 233, and Education 205, 220, 324) may also work at Gorse. Observational opportunities are available for students enrolled in Psychology 100, and 230. Students taking Psychology 330, 332, 295, and 395 often do research projects at Gorse.

Education Curriculum Library

The Education Curriculum Library is housed in Room 303B. This library offers students access to audio visual materials and equipment, computer software, mathematics and science materials, textbooks, a small collection of children's literature, teaching periodicals and applied texts on methodology and curriculum. Look for a sign on the wall for instructions on how to find and sign out books.

Vivarium

Judith Field, Curator of Animals

The block of rooms in the center of the second floor of the building houses rodents, birds and fish. A student wishing to work with other species will probably be able to do so, provided she gets permission first. In addition to the animal quarters, the vivarium includes a cage-washing room and four sets of rooms for research.

Shop Complex

Bill Kaiser, Director

Scientific equipment and instrumentation is almost always expensive. For unique lines of research, equipment may not be available commercially. When equipment is too expensive or not available at all, the way to get it is to build it. These are the main reasons for having the shop complex in the Psychology Department. The shop also provides opportunities for students to learn how to design their own equipment, to select appropriate materials, and to use hand and power tools to build their equipment. Many student teachers have used the shop to produce educational materials. Some of the repair work on the audio-visual equipment is done in our shop. These facilities have been opened to other departments on a limited basis.

Our shop is extremely well-equipped. We have facilities for working with metals, wood and plastic. Our capabilities easily match those of much larger institutions. We have a complete machine shop for shaping metal; our machine tools include a lathe, milling machine, surface grinder and drill presses. A variety of precision measuring and layout tools are included; we can routinely make metric measurements as fine as .01 mm.