James H. Korn, Ph.D., an emeritus professor of psychology at St. Louis University (SLU), died on July 17, 2025, at the age of 87.
Korn was a long-serving faculty member at SLU and played a significant role in advancing research on teaching and learning within the university. In recognition of his contributions, SLU established the James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award in 2006.
Donna LaVoie, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor in the psychology department, reflected on Korn’s impact: “Jim was a very influential mentor to so many faculty and graduate students in the Psychology department and elsewhere across the university, encouraging us to be the very best we could be for those students we had and have the privilege of teaching. He challenged us to not only be prepared to deliver content well, but to think always about the ethics of what we were doing as teachers, and to think about the success of our students in ways that perhaps we hadn’t considered before: to do the ‘right’ thing, not always the expedient thing. He greatly influenced my own teaching and what it means to me to be a faculty member at SLU.”
Born on April 30, 1938, in Oak Park, Illinois, Korn earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from Miami University in Ohio in 1960. He completed his master’s degree in 1962 and doctorate in 1965 at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh.
Korn began his academic career as a research associate at Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1964 before becoming an assistant professor there. In 1969 he became an associate professor at Carnegie-Mellon University where he was named outstanding teacher of the year in 1970.
He joined SLU in 1974 as head of its psychology department and remained until retiring in 2006.
Korn contributed significantly to scholarly teaching at SLU. He helped establish SLU’s Paul C. Reinert, S.J. Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning as part of its founding faculty committee in 1997. Since its creation, this center has presented the James H. Korn Award annually; Korn was its first recipient.
He held memberships with several professional organizations including the Council of Undergraduate Psychology Departments, American Psychological Association, American Association of Higher Education, Psychonomic Society, and Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
