Sherwood Orison Cole was an American psychologist whose academic career centered on experimental psychology, psychopharmacology, and higher education. Long associated with Rutgers University–Camden, he combined teaching, research, and academic leadership with federally supported scientific investigation and international research collaboration.
Background
Sherwood Orison Cole was born in North Scituate, Rhode Island, to Wesley Potter Cole and Ruth Emily Cole, née King. He later became a United States citizen and spent much of his professional life in California and New Jersey. Cole served in the Medical Service Corps of the United States Navy from 1951 to 1954, an experience that preceded his formal academic training in psychology. He died on February 24, 2014, in Tehachapi, California, at the age of eighty-three, and was interred at Tehachapi Westside Cemetery.
Education
Cole earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1958. He completed a Master of Arts in Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961 as a grantee of the United States Public Health Service. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology from Claremont Graduate School in 1964, also under United States Public Health Service support.
Career
Cole began his academic career as an assistant professor of psychology at California State College, Fullerton, in 1964. He subsequently held teaching appointments at Whitworth College and Rutgers University–Camden, where he advanced from assistant to associate professor before being appointed full professor in 1972. He served as chairman of the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University–Camden from 1967 to 1974 and was named professor emeritus in 1992.
In addition to his teaching and administrative roles, Cole pursued research in psychopharmacology and psychobiology. He served as a visiting investigator supported by the Rutgers Research Council and held a fellowship in laboratory psychobiology and psychopharmacology with the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome from 1971 to 1972. His work was supported at various times by the National Science Foundation and the United States Public Health Service.
Achievements
Cole received multiple competitive research grants from the National Science Foundation, the United States Public Health Service, and the Rutgers Research Council, reflecting sustained federal and institutional support for his scientific work.
Membership
He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Health in England and a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Neuroscience, and Psi Chi. Earlier in his life, he served in the Medical Service Corps of the United States Navy.
Connections
Sherwood Orison Cole was married to Dorothy Louise Cole. They had two children, John David Cole and Bonnie Sue MacKenzie.
