McGill, William James

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William James McGill, 1922–97, American educator and psychologist, b. New York City, grad. Fordham (A.B., 1943) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1953). A specialist in psychophysics and mathematical psychology, he was professor of psychology at Columbia (1956–65) and at the Univ. of California at San Diego (1965–68). He was UCSD chancellor from 1968 to 1970, during a period of student unrest, then returned to Columbia as its president (1970–80).

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