Barry K. Beyer, who came to George Mason University in 1980 to lead a new program that ultimately produced Mason’s first doctoral graduate, raising the academic profile of a young upstart university, died August 5, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. He was 91.
In the late 1970s, President George W. Johnson was eager for Mason to offer doctoral degrees to announce its arrival as an emerging university after it became an independent institution in 1972. A professor of education and history, Beyer came to Mason from Carnegie Mellon University to coordinate Mason’s new Doctor of Arts in Education program.
Beyer’s program and a doctorate of public administration both launched in the fall of 1980, and Beyer’s program in 1983 produced the university’s first doctoral graduate, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda. She went on to become poet laureate of Virginia from 2006-08.
Mason now offers doctorates in 39 programs.
“Barry was a visionary,” said Christopher Thaiss, who taught English at Mason from 1976 to 2006 and worked with students in Beyer’s doctoral program. “He was very conscious of creating a program that would have high standards, that would take students to a level of taking qualifying exams and writing responsible dissertations that would have some impact on their field.
“In creating a doctoral program in education, what we were really looking to do was attract students who had different disciplinary backgrounds,” Thaiss said.
The program’s appeal broadened. One graduate of the program, former Mason nursing professor Jeanne Sorrell, now professor emerita of nursing, wrote a recollection of her experience in the program for Mason Spirit alumni magazine in 2001.
Beyer, who co-authored several textbooks and did extensive work in the area of thinking skills, achieved another Mason first. In 1983, he was the inaugural recipient of the University Libraries’ Fenwick Fellowship for his proposal, “Research Project on Analytical Thinking.”
In addition to Carnegie Mellon, Beyer taught at the University of Rochester and Ohio State University, according to his obituary.
Evelyn Jacob, professor emerita in the College of Education and Human Development, recalled Beyer as a “valued colleague, friend and mentor.”
“Barry was widely respected in the university and was a calm, rational, and inclusive leader,” Jacob said. “That respect helped strengthen the legitimacy of the doctoral program within the university and beyond.”