08/08/2019
By Katharine Webster

Psychology Prof. Emeritus Robert Kunzendorf was recently named editor of the American Psychological Association journal “Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and Practice.”

“I look forward to ensuring that the journal and high-quality consciousness research flourish for many years to come,” he says.

Kunzendorf spent his 35-year career at UMass Lowell asking himself and his students big questions about human cognition and consciousness, including metaphysical questions about the mind-brain relationship, and he developed research paradigms to answer these questions. He also helped to start the Honors Program, now the Honors College.

Kunzendorf previously edited the academic journal “Imagination, Cognition, and Personality.” In 2014, he retired from editing the journal, teaching classes and conducting research to spend more time with his family as he continued treatment for a metastatic cancer diagnosed more than a decade earlier.

After retiring, he published a sixth book, “On the Evolution of Conscious Sensation, Conscious Imagination, and Consciousness of Self.” His cancer prognosis improved dramatically last year, and he decided to apply for the editorship of “Psychology of Consciousness.”

Kunzendorf and his wife have endowed an annual lecture on applied cognitive psychology to enrich the experience of students in the Psychology Department’s new Ph.D. program in Applied Psychology and Prevention Science.