Frank Benjamin Wilderson, Jr., longtime faculty member with the University of Minnesota, passed away on June 17. He was 94 years old.
An HBCU graduate, Dr. Wilderson earned his undergraduate degree from Xavier University of Louisiana. In 1962, he received his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Michigan. There, he directed research on a program to support children with reading and emotional difficulties and co-founded the Council for Exceptional Child Division, a state-wide program dedicated to supporting children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Soon after completing his doctorate, Dr. Wilderson was hired as an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, making him the institution’s first Black tenure-track professor.
A few years into Dr. Wilderson’s tenure, a group of 70 Black students from the Afro-American Action Committee, along with other students from Students for a Democratic Society, protested the hostile treatment of Black students on campus and advocated for the development of an African American studies program. Dr. Wilderson helped these students categorize their demands, which were ultimately accepted by the university. Dr. Wilderson was then tapped to chair the committee that officially established the first African American studies department at the University of Minnesota.
Later in his career, Dr. Wilderson spent 14 years as vice president of student affairs. He also had a stint as coordinator of the special education program. As a scholar, much of his research centered on early childhood educational psychology, leading him to develop numerous techniques and programs to help parents and teachers of children with special needs. He retired from the University of Minnesota in 1999 after nearly four decades on the faculty.
