Albert Bartz

Dr. Albert Bartz '55, professor of psychology, is retiring after 50 years at Concordia, but will continue to serve the college as a psychologist-in-residence.

Bartz has remained an active scholar throughout his career and has the distinction of publishing in every decade since the 1950s. He began his career studying visual perception and in 1966 was published in the esteemed scientific publication Science. Bartz changed his scholarly direction a number of years ago. His current research focus is in the area of health psychology, investigating the role of personality factors in illness.

In addition to being an active scholar, Bartz has a great love of teaching, so much so that he will remain teaching on a part-time basis after this year and he will continue to mentor undergraduate research assistants.

In 1994, he was honored as the Minnesota Psychological Association Undergraduate Teacher of the Year.

Bartz wrote a college textbook, “Basic Statistical Concepts in Education and the Behavioral Sciences,” which is currently in its fourth edition. He decided to write the textbook, described by Macmillan Publishing Company as “anxiety-free statistics,” because he felt students “who enthusiastically tackle diverse college subjects…are afflicted with terminal insecurity when confronted with a required course in statistics.”

“Hundreds of students have been able to excel in their required statistics course because of his patience and clear description of statistical concepts,” says Dr. Susan Larson, psychology chair and associate professor.

Bartz looks forward to spending more time traveling and at the lake with his wife, Solveig '54.