Myrtle Scott

KERRVILLE- Myrtle Scott was born February 4, 1937 in Monahans, TX. She died January 17, 2016 in her home in Kerrville, Texas. She was the eldest daughter of Ethel and Sterling Scott and grew up in the Permian Basin oil field towns of west Texas.

As she grew up she became a leader in everything she did and went on to become both a recognized university professor and author and received the highest honors granted by Indiana University where she spent her career. Her academic colleagues, personal friends and family alike highly valued her many contributions to their lives.

Myrtle graduated from high school in Snyder, Texas where she was a recognized leader, not only in her academic work, but student organizations and activities as well. She loved music and singing and was an excellent pianist.

She received her bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Hardin-Simmons University in 1959 and a master's in psychology from North Texas State University in 1961.

Myrtle worked as a school psychologist for the Houston Independent School District from 1961 - 1965, when she decided to pursue a doctorate. She completed her Ph.D. in psychology at George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1969. Her first post-Ph.D. position was director of planning and evaluation for the Coordination Center of the National Laboratory for Early Childhood Education, then located at the University of Illinois. In 1970 she was recruited by Indiana University as an associate professor. She was charged with the creation of a new program combining child development, education, and public policy. The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program on Young Children operated under her direction from 1972 to 1978. It produced a number of Ph.D.'s who became prominent scholars and/or policy makers.

Administrative appointments included associate dean for research in the School of Education and later associate dean of the IU Graduate School. She was promoted to full professor in 1981.Throughout her career, Myrtle was active in faculty governance. Her major issue was intellectual property rights. She worked to develop a set of principles that reaffirmed the basic mission of the university as academic (as opposed to commercial), reaffirmed the importance of independence for faculty in developing new ideas, and proposed basic cooperative, collaborative stances for faculty, administrators, and trustees to guide the university in these areas. She was honored with the Distinguished Service Award for the Bloomington Campus in 1998 and the university-wide W. George Pinnell Award for Outstanding Service in 1999.

Professor Scott taught mainly in two areas, child development and ecological psychology (the influence of environment on behavior), for most of her 32 years at Indiana University. She received awards for distinguished teaching at both the School of Education and the university campus level. She was well known for her dissertation supervision. She directed 37 dissertations during her career, 3 of which received outstanding dissertation awards.

Her research and theoretical work dealt primarily with ecological psychology. This work focused on the influence of the environment on human behavior and development. Her final works involved interpretation of the work of Roger Barker, father of ecological psychology.

Although she received many honors during her career at Indiana University, the most meaningful to her was being named the first Herman B Wells Endowed Professor (December 2000). She retired from Indiana in 2002 and moved to Kerrville, Texas in 2004 to be nearer family.

She is survived by her sister, Beverly Scott of Georgetown, Texas and her dear friend of 53 years, Susan Eklund of Kerrville. She was preceded in death by parents, Sterling and Ethel Scott.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Peterson Hospice or Dietert Center Meals- on - Wheels.

A Visitation will be held at Kerrville Funeral Home from 1-2 PM on Thursday January 21, 2016.

Funeral Services will be held at 2PM on Thursday January 21, 2016 at Kerrville Funeral Home with Chaplain Steve Doss officiating. Interment will take place at Garden of Memories followed by a reception at Rails.

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Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Kerrville Funeral Home. (830)895- 5111

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