This Thursday, January 31, the BW Psychology Department will welcome Dr. Roy Baumesiter as the 2019 Kathryn Grover Harrington & Robert A. Harrington Distinguished Visiting Professor. Baumeister will be returning to his native Cleveland from his role as Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia to deliver a lecture entitled, “Addiction: A Problem of Motivation, Free Will, or Self-Destructive Behavior.”
Dr. Stephanie Richman, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Baldwin Wallace, explained that “The Distinguished Visiting Professor Award” was endowed by the Harringtons (who founded the Psychology Department) to grow the department and bring in “talented national and international leaders in psychology.”
Baumeister fits the bill in this regard, as his work has brought him job opportunities, praise, and awards across the globe. In addition to being a 2011 New York Times best-selling author for his book, Will Power: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, he was awarded the 2013 William James Fellow Award, the highest award given by the Association for Psychological Study,
Professors Baumeister and Richman have maintained an academic relationship from the time that Richman was a graduate student that applied to work for him while he was researching “The Need to Belong” in the mid-nineties.
Psychology students will have a few unique opportunities with the visiting professor, including a group breakfast on Friday morning, presentations in social psychology classes, and, for select students nominated by faculty, a private lunch with the professor.
The lecture itself will be free and open to the public in the Center for Innovation and Growth, beginning at 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, with a scheduled run time of about an hour. After the event, the professor will be taking questions from the audience and there will be a reception to follow.
Baumeister is an exhaustive academic, with more than 30 published books and hundreds of scholarly articles spanning across all facets of social psychology. Richman explained

that what makes him a special is that he, “possesses a deep knowledge about a wide breadth of different topics, with the research to back it all up. He doesn’t just have an opinion, he has evidence.”
Baumeister has said, “Most of the problems that plague our society—addiction, overeating, crime, domestic violence, prejudice, debt, unwanted pregnancy, educational failure, underperformance at school and work, lack of savings, failure to exercise—are in some degree, a failure of self-control.”
One of the enticing elements of social psychology is its universality in application to our everyday lives. To those that are unsure what they may get out of hearing the lecture, Richman said, “Dr. Baumeister is an amazing and prolific researcher; the topics he’ll be discussing are exciting, and I can’t wait to hear his brilliance applied to everyday topics.”
This lecture will be a huge event for the Psychology department this semester, but by no means will it be the only cause for positivity. Professor Richman reports that the department is excited to have students presenting research at conferences at the national, regional, and local levels, as well as faculty securing new funding for research labs.
For those interested in finding out more about Dr. Baumeister and his research, you can see his work directly at his professional website, roybaumeister.com.