Paul Dressel (November 29, 1910 – November 22, 1989) was an American educational psychologist. He was the founding director of the Counseling Center at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, and the author of several books.

Early life

Dressel was born on November 29, 1910. He graduated from

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1931. He earned a master's degree from Michigan State University in 1934, and a PhD from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1939.

Career

Dressel began his career as a statistician. He joined Michigan State University as the chairman of its board of examiners. When MSU students first took the

Graduate Record Examinations The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and Canada and a few other countries. The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Servi ...

as an experiment for the

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...

in 1943, it was Dressel who analyzed the results. Dressel founded MSU's Counseling Center for returning veterans of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and he served as its director until 1981. He was also the director of the Office of Institutional Research from 1959 to 1961, and the Assistant Provost from 1961 to 1964. Dressel was the author of several books, including ''College To University: The Hannah Years at Michigan State, 1935-1969''.

Personal life and death

Dressel married Wilma Frances Sackett. They had three daughters. He died on November 22, 1989, at 78.

References

1910 births 1989 deaths Wittenberg University alumni Michigan State University alumni University of Michigan alumni Michigan State University faculty {{US-psychologist-stub