Department of Comparative Human Development

In Memoriam

Bertram J. Cohler

December 3, 1938 – May 9, 2012

Bertram J. Cohler, 73, of Hyde Park, the William Rainey Harper Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, passed away May 9th, 2012, surrounded by his family. Bert was a father, grandfather, and partner. He will be remembered as a wise, humble, gentle man. He was a hero, friend, and gift to all who knew and loved him both privately and professionally.

Bert received his A.B. (1961) from the University of Chicago, his Ph.D. (1967) from Harvard University, and certification in Adult Psychoanalysis from the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago. Bert was the longest serving faculty member in the Department of Comparative Human Development and taught the Self, Culture, and Society social science sequence at the University of Chicago for 40 years. He won the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1972 and 1999 and the Norman Maclean Faculty Award for enriching student life in 2006. Bert was committed to providing pro bono psychotherapy and analysis to patients. He mentored and advised numerous undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Chicago and beyond and supported psychiatry residents throughout their training. Bert’s enthusiasm for teaching was captured in an interview with the Chicago Maroon: “I’ve turned down jobs at other colleges in order to be able to teach U of C students.” Bert was an active member in numerous local and international professional organizations, and he was a prolific writer.

Bert has touched the lives of many people and indeed, has opened many doors that can ever be closed.

A memorial service will be held at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on June 4th, 6:00 pm.

Please visit bertramcohler.wordpress.com to share your memories of Bert and find out about the Bert Cohler Memorial Fund. Read more about Bert's life in University of Chicago’s tribute to him here.

The Department of Comparative Human Development is an interdisciplinary department at the critical edge of thought and research in the social sciences. We believe that social life is too complex and too exciting to be left within any single discipline. Consequently, we bring together anthropologists, biologists, linguists, psychologists, sociologists and methodologists whose methods and theories cross individual social science disciplines. Faculty and students' research examines issues of central concern to socio-cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, comparative education, behavioral biology, language and thought, cultural psychology. In addressing those issues, we highlight shifting categories such as gender, race, class, age, sexuality, and ability.

Comparative Human Development is the oldest genuinely interdisciplinary social science graduate program in the United States. The Department's name signals our long-standing commitment to exploring a wide range of issues across multiple levels of analysis:
Comparative: To understand is to compare. 'Comparative' means attention to likeness and difference. Work in the Department looks at how practices, ideologies, capabilities, and behaviors vary across time, between cultures, and between species.
Human: What makes us human? Research in the Department explores the socio-cultural, psychological and biological processes that humans share with, and that distinguish them from, each other and from non-human animals.
Development: This complex and vexed term highlights change over time. It raises debates about cultural values and provokes disagreement about desired states. Work in the Department critically examines understandings about development in relation to both societies and individuals, and it analyzes practices and policies that may promote or prevent it.

The Department offers programs that lead to BA and PhD degrees. Students in the Department have pursued innovative and successful careers in anthropology, biology, education, human development, psychology and sociology.

Faculty Spotlight

Professor Richland has recently joined the Department

Lindsey Richland is a developmental psychologist who joined the Department of Comparative Human Development in 2011. Dr. Richland investigates cognition, memory, and the development of higher order thinking from preschool through young adulthood. She primarily explores the development of humans' powerful ability to draw relationships and generalize between phenomena, such as through metaphor and analogy. Dr. Richland conducts lab experiments and classroom-based studies of naturally occurring mathematics and science instruction. She conducts her research both in the United States and cross-nationally. In addition to theory building, she aims to develop practice-relevant tools for improving students' educational outcomes in mathematics and science.

Dr. Richland's work has been published in diverse journals including Science, Developmental Science, the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Cognition and Instruction, and PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review. Her work was also covered in Scientific American. A CAREER award from the National Science Foundation as well as grants from the Office of Naval Research, the Spencer Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences have supported her research. In 2008, she was awarded a National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. She received her Ph.D in Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2003. At the University of Chicago, Dr. Richland directs the Learning Lab.

Upcoming Events

In The News