Brief biography

Address: 626 Georgetown Place, Davis CA 95616-1822
Phone (530) 756-7553
e-mail: rosommer@ucdavis.ed

Ph.D. 1956, University of Kansas
1953-56 Research Assistant, Menninger Foundation
1956 (Summer) Teacher, Institute for Social Research, Mullsjo, Sweden
1957 Postdoctoral Fellow, Southeast Louisiana Hospital
1957 Research Psychologist, Larned State Hospital, Larned KS
1957-61 Research Psychologist, Saskatchewan Hospital, Canada
1962-63 Asst. Prof. of Psych. & Director, Psychological Clinic, University of Alberta
1962 (Summer) Acting Assoc. Dir. of Research, Alcoholism Foundation of Alberta
1963 – present Assoc. Prof. to Prof. of Psych., Univ. of CA, Davis
1964 (Fall) Assessment Officer, Peace Corps
1964 (Summer) Psychologist, Mendocino State Hospital
1966-72 Chair, Psychology Department, Univ. of CA, Davis
1969-70 Visiting Prof., Dept. of Architecture, Univ. of CA, Berkeley
1970 Visiting Prof., Dept. of Architecture, Univ. of WA
1977 (Summer) Visiting Prof., Dept. of Design, Univ. of NV, Reno
1978-92 Director, Center for Consumer Res., Univ. of CA, Davis
1989 Lecturer, Tallinn Pedagogical Institute, Estonia, USSR
1991 (Spring) Acting Director, Public Service Research and Dissemination Program, Univ. of CA, Davis
1991-94 Chair, Dept. of Environmental Design, Univ. of CA, Davis
1994-95 Chair, Dept. of Rhetoric & Communication, Univ. of CA, Davis
1997-2000 Chair, Dept. of Art, Univ. of CA, Davis
2001 (Fall) Research Fellow, Tokyo Institute of Technology
2003 Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus

Author of: Expertland (Doubleday, 1963), Personal Space (Prentice-Hall, 1969), Design Awareness (Rinehart, 1972), Tight Spaces (Prentice-Hall, 1974), Street Art (Links Books, 1975), Sidewalk Fossils (Walker, 1975, The End of Imprisonment (Oxford, 1976), The Mind’s Eye (Delta, 1978), A Practical Guide to Behavioral Research (with Barbara A. Sommer), Oxford, 1980, (1st Ed.), 1986 (2nd Ed.), 1991 (3rd Ed.), 1997 (4th Ed.), 2002 (5th Ed.), Farmers’ Markets of America (Capra, 1980), Social Design (Prentice-Hall, 1983), An Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources (Revised) with Norcross, Santrock et al. (Guilford, 2000, 2003), Milieux et modes de vie (Infolio, 2003). Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America, with R. Michael Davis and John Menge (University of California Press, 2012), and Self-Help that Works, with John Norcross et al. (Oxford, 2013).

Consultation: Design of bicycle paths, residence halls, geriatric housing, airports, offices, prisons, farmers markets, and other types of facilities.

Awards: City-University Research Award, City of Davis; Research Award, California Alliance for the Mentally Ill; Career Research Award; Environmental Design Research Association; Kurt Lewin Award, Division 9 APA; Fulbright Award to Estonia, USSR.
President-Elect 1998-9, President 1999-2000, APA Div. 34

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