Roger Edward Kirk

Roger E. Kirk, Emeritus Distinguished professor of Psychology and Statistics passed away Saturday, December 30, 2023.

A service celebrating his life will be held at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at the First Presbyterian Church in Waco, with Reverend Leslie King officiating, burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation preceding the service will be from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 16, in the church Foundation Parlor.

Roger was born to James D. and Janet L. Kirk of Inez, Kentucky. He graduated from Ohio State University (OSU) with a BS in Music Education in 1951, and an MA in music in 1952. He then enrolled in OSU’s PhD program in experimental psychology.

After receiving his PhD in 1955, he accepted a position as the senior psychoacoustic engineer with the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. For the next three years, he engaged in research to improve the sound quality of acoustic and electronic pianos and organs.

In 1958 he accepted a position as an assistant professor of psychology at Baylor University. By all accounts, Kirk was an exceptional teacher. He quickly earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1960. Not long after, in 1964 he was promoted to Full Professor, and from 1969 to 1976 he directed the Psychology Department’s graduate program. In 1971, Kirk received an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to study statistics and quantitative psychology at the University of Michigan. Following his return to Baylor, he founded a doctoral program in behavioral statistics. The program eventually became an interdisciplinary Institute of Statistics, now the Department of Statistics. After directing the doctoral program and institute for twenty-five years, Kirk stepped down to devote more time to writing and research.

Three professional activities were sources of immense joy for Kirk: teaching statistics, doing statistics research, and writing statistics books. His first book, Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences, was designated a Citation Classis by the Institute for Scientific Information. It is one of the most frequently cited books in the field. He is the author of six other statistics books and 130 scientific articles.

During his long and distinguished career, he was the recipient of many honors and awards for his teaching and research. He was a past president of the Society for Applied Multivariate Research, the Southwestern Psychological Association, and Division 5 of the American Psychological Association. He was a fellow of five divisions of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1, 2, 5, 13, and 21). He also was a fellow of the American Association for Psychological Science, American Educational Research Association, and the Southwestern Psychological Association.

Kirk’s greatest legacy was the impact he made in the classroom. During his 61 years at Baylor, he taught statistics to virtually every psychology major— literally over ten thousand students. He was a model of excellence in the way he carried out his scholarship and the joy with which he approached his teaching. His sense of humor was evident in his teaching of statistics. When student’s eyes would glaze over, he would break into a cha-cha or rumba dance step. That never failed to recapture student’s attention.

On June 26, 1987, he married the love of his life: Jane Abbott. They shared a passion for ballroom dancing, teaching ballroom dancing, and competing in dance competitions.

Roger was preceded in death by his parents, James D. and Janet L. Kirk; his youngest sister, Sharon Kay Cerneck; and brother-in-law, Richard Chandler.

He is survived by his wife, Jane; his brother-law, William Abbott; sister, Barbara Chandler of Talbot, Tennessee; and niece and nephew in law, David VanAvery and Giulia VanAvery of Syracuse, New York.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Roger on his “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.