William J. McGill

For other people of the same name, see William McGill (disambiguation).

William James McGill
Third Chancellor University of California, San Diego
Term	1968 – 1970
Predecessor	John Semple Galbraith
Successor	Herbert York
Born	27 February 1922(1922-02-27) New York City, New York, USA
Died	19 October 1997(1997-10-19) (aged 75) La Jolla, California, USA
Alma mater	Fordham University Harvard University
Institutions	University of California, San Diego Columbia University
Profession	Psychologist

William James McGill (27 February 1922 – 19 October 1997) was an American psychologist, author and academic administrator.

Biography

McGill was born in New York City to a musician and labor organizer. He attended parochial Catholic schools and in 1939 began his college education at Fordham University, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology. In 1953 he was awarded a doctorate in experimental psychology from Harvard University.

McGill was an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology until 1956 and then joined Columbia. He was chairman of the psychology department from 1961 to 1963 and left in 1965 to help found a psychology department at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In 1968 he accepted the job of chancellor at UCSD, after the first five offered the position turned it down.

In 1970 he left California to become the president of Columbia University from 1970 to 1980.

References

• Knubel, Fred (24 October 1997). "Ex-President Wm. McGill Dead at 75". Columbia University Record 23 (7). http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/07/13.html. Retrieved 2008-11-30. 
• "William James McGill." Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 5: 1997-1999. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
• "William James McGill." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007.

Academic offices
Preceded by Andrew W. Cordier	President of Columbia University 1970 – 1980	Succeeded by Michael I. Sovern