Remembering Beth Sulzer-Azaroff

ABSTRACT

Beth Sulzer-Azaroff was a pioneer in behavior analysis, contributing to many areas including organizational behavior management. Her work spanned many decades and influenced many in our field. She passed on February 26, 2022. Family, friends, students, colleagues, and clients mourn and remember her enormous influence. I was among her doctoral students (1983–1987) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she mentored my graduate studies. During an era when behavior analysis saw contributions from a number of pioneers, Beth stood out. Her scholarship, hard work, positive leadership, versatility, values, and commitment to behavior analysis earned respect and appreciation across domains of our discipline. This short paper celebrates her leadership, scholarship and mentorship.

KEYWORDS:

• Beth Sulzer-Azaroff
• leadership
• behavior systems analysis
• behavioral safety
• effective leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Department of Education, Office of Special Education, Division of Personnel Preparation, No. G008101986-02.

2. Apple orchards? The manager of a popular local apple orchard took Beth’s ABA course. I taught a lab that year and our group’s spring project was to improve pruning by migrant workers of 200,000 apple trees. The lab group studied pomology (UMASS acclaimed Stockbridge School of Agriculture is on campus) and coached the Jamaican workers on tree pruning.

3. Bill Hopkins shared with me his recollection of Beth’s concern with this and her advocacy for research driven development.