Discovery & Engagement Discovery & Engagement

In Memoriam
MAX DAVID (MACK) STEER,
the founder of Purdue University’s
Department of Audiology and Speech
Sciences, passed away on June 24, 2003,
HAROLD T. CHRISTENSEN, at his home in West Lafayette, following
94, professor emeritus of sociology,
a long illness. He was born June 14,
died August 30, 2003, in his home in
1910, in New York City. He was
San Diego, California. Christensen
educated at Long Island University
was born March 10, 1909, in Preston,
(BS 1932; OD 1957) and the University
Idaho. He received his bachelor’s and
of Iowa (MA 1933; PhD 1938). Steer
master’s degrees from Brigham Young
joined the Purdue faculty in 1935 as one
University and his doctorate from the
of the first doctoral students trained in
University of Wisconsin. He came to
the then-new discipline of communica-
Purdue in August 1947 as full profestive
sciences and disorders. Under his
sor, serving as the first department
leadership, the department provided
head when the Department of
remedial services for students with
Sociology was established in 1953.
deviant speech skills. Undergraduate and
He stepped down as department head
in 1962, and retired to La Jolla,
California, in 1975. Christensen was
graduate programs were in place by
awarded a Doctor of Letters, honoris MICHAEL K. WYNNE, 49, of
causa, from Purdue in 1993 for his Brownsburg, Indiana, died October 14,
pioneering work in cross-cultures
2003. Wynne was an associate professor
investigation of factors influencing at the Indiana University School of
premarital sexual activity. He strove Medicine, Department of Otolaryn-
to put the discipline of sociology on gology, since 1993. He was also affiliated
scientific footing, developing the
with Purdue University as an adjunct
record-linkage technique, a method of professor and, later, as part of the joint
quantitative analysis that helped over- Purdue-IUPUI Doctor of Audiology
come the limitations of interviews and (AuD) degree program. Wynne obtained
questionnaires.
his BA from Whitman College in 1976,
and his MA in 1979 from the University
of Montana. He earned his PhD in 1988
from the University of Washington.
1940. Steer was nationally known in his
field and helped the department earn
one of the nation’s first accreditations in
speech pathology and audiology. He built
his reputation on the belief that the field
of communication sciences and disorders
would grow strong only if it conducted
basic science research to understand the
mechanisms of speech production and
reception. Steer retired from Purdue in
1976 as distinguished professor emeritus.
In 1986, the M. D. Steer Audiology and
Speech Language Clinics in Heavilon
Hall were named in his honor. As Anne
Smith, head of the Department of
Audiology and Speech Sciences, said,
Steer “left us a legacy of excellence,
really, because from the very beginning
of this field, Purdue has had one of the
top programs in the world.”
LIBERAL ARTS MAGAZINE Spring 2004
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