The Dunnette Prize is given to honor living individuals whose work has significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application.
Professor Marvin D. Dunnette devoted virtually his entire academic and professional life to the assessment, prediction, and explanation of individual differences in human behavior and performance. There are certainly many important interventions that influence behavior and performance, but their interactions with individual differences are equally important. The Dunnette Prize was established to recognize individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to understanding (assessing, predicting, and explaining) human behavior and performance by explicating the role played by individual differences. Such contributions can be in the form of basic research, applied research, or applications in practice. Professor Dunnette did not see them as distinct entities – each informs the others.
The Dunnette Prize carries a cash award of $50,000, to be presented at the SIOP Annual Conference. In addition, recipient(s) are expected to give an invited address about the Prize winning contributions at the SIOP conference at which the award is received.
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Eligibility Criteria
Nominees will be judged in terms of their overall contribution to understanding the role played by individual differences in predicting, explaining, or facilitating human behavior and performance. An individual or team may be nominated for the Dunnette Prize.
The following properties of overall contribution will be considered:
- Appropriateness – primary focus is on the assessment, prediction, explanation, or specification of individual differences, i.e., emphasis is on individual differences that are important for predicting, changing, or explaining human behavior and performance.
- Quality – sound scientific and technical base. Fads, fashions, and folderol will be discounted.
- Impact – innovative, programmatic work that has had significant and lasting impact on the field, advancing understanding, research, and/or practice. The research or work illuminates understanding of differences among individuals and the causal role of individual differences on behavior and performance.
Number of publications and citation counts are secondary and perhaps even irrelevant concerns. Rather, it is the quality and impact of the work along with focus on the role of individual differences in predicting, changing, and explaining human behavior and performance.
Submission Guidelines and Criteria
The following guidelines for submitting a candidate must be observed:
- A nomination letter by a SIOP member is required. Self-nominations are welcome. If a SIOP co-nominator is needed, please contact Dr. Milton Hakel at mhakel@bgsu.edu.
- SIOP membership is not a requirement for nominee(s).
- In addition to the nomination letter, the nomination package must include a minimum of 3 but no more than 5 letters of support. It is the responsibility of the nominator to gather the support letters and upload them, using the online awards program.
- A self-statement and Curriculum Vitae from the nominee or nominated team is required.
- If applicable, the names of all team members must be entered during the online nomination/application process
- The Dunnette Prize is intended to recognize individuals who have made programmatic, significant, and lasting contributions to understanding the causal nature of individual differences on behavior and performance. Nominees are thus likely to be in later stages of their career or life, although mid-career nominees are not precluded.
- Dunnette Prize recipient(s) are expected to give an invited address about the prize winning contributions at the SIOP conference at which the award is received.
- Nominees are expected to not violate SIOP’s values in their professional or personal behavior. It will be up to each award subcommittee to determine how much weight this guideline has on the overall decision.
Composition of Committee
The SIOP Awards Committee Chair will appoint a Dunnette Prize Subcommittee Chair to oversee the review of nominations. Major Contributors to the Dunnette fund may recommend a committee member. Lead Contributors to the fund can name a member to the committee who may or may not be a member of SIOP. The following criteria apply to the committee:
- Should comprise recognized experts in I-O psychology.
- Should comprise primarily SIOP professional members.
- Should comprise a majority of committee members who are independent, that is, they were not recommended to serve by Major Contributors or appointed to serve on the committee by Lead Contributors.
Administrative Procedures
The following administrative procedures apply:
- The Dunnette Prize Subcommittee will review the nomination materials of all nominees and make a recommendation to the SIOP Executive Board concerning the recipient of the Dunnette Prize.
- SIOP Executive Board may either endorse or reject the recommendations of the Awards Committee but may not substitute a nominee of its own.
- Dunnette Prize Subcommittee members may not be recipients of the award during their tenure on the committee.
- The named committee member(s) of Lead Contributor(s) may not participate in the review process if a person from the donor's family or employer is being considered for the Dunnette Prize.
- In the absence of a nominee who is deemed deserving of the award by the Dunnette Prize Subcommittee, the award may be withheld and a recommendation will not be presented to the SIOP Executive Board.
Charter Contributors to the Dunnette Prize Fund
(These donors generously donated $1,000 or more. This list was last updated February 7, 2018.)
Cristina G. Banks
Michael Beer
Thomas and Pauline Bouchard
Harry Brull
David Campbell
James Campion
Howard C. Carlson
Chesapeake Insts for Behavioral Research
Sandra L. Davis
René V. Dawis
Robert Eichinger
James L. Farr
Irv and Micki Goldstein
Harrison G. Gough
George and Joni Graen
Rick Guzzo
Milt and Lee Hakel
Keith and Karen Grabow Halprin
Jo-Ida C. Hansen
Joy and John Hazucha
Lowell Hellervik
Ray S. Hibbs
Hogan Assessment System
Thomas Hollmann
Leaetta Hough
Allen I. Kraut
Frank Landy
Gary Latham
Patty and Ed Lawler
Cynthia E. Marsh |
Jeffrey J. McHenry
Douglas and Kimberly McKenna
Robert F. Morrison
Robert Muschewske
Dianne Nilsen
Cal Oltrogge
Frederick Oswald
PDI Charitable Giving Fund St Paul Foundation
Patricia Pedigo
David B. Peterson
Lyman W. Porter
David L. Prin
Lise M. Saari
Paul and Pat Sackett
Frank Schmidt
Benjamin and Brenda Schneider
Lance Seberhagen
James Campbell Sharf
Rob Silzer
Elaine B. Sloan
Snyder Leadership Group
Wayne W. Sorenson
SWA Consulting Inc.
Paul W Thayer
The Robins Family Foundation
Nancy T. Tippins
Harry C. Triandis
Victor Vroom
Stroller Tod White
Marti and Shelly Zedeck |
Dunnette Prize Award Winners
2022 Winner - Robert Hogan
Watch Robert Hogan's Award address
2020 Winner - Paul Sackett
Watch Paul Sackett's Award address
2018 Winner - Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.
The Dunnette Prize is given to honor living individuals whose work has significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application. The award, which carries a cash prize of $50,000, is named for Professor Marvin D. Dunnette, who devoted virtually his entire academic and professional life to the assessment, prediction, and explanation of individual differences in human behavior and performance.
This year’s winner is Thomas Bouchard, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bouchard received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. Soon afterward, he was recruited to the University of Minnesota, where he began studying the new field of behavioral genetics, along with applied and individual differences in psychology. Bouchard’s most well-known work involves the famous Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, which has yielded a rich harvest of information shaping scientific fields including psychology, medicine and genetics.
Watch Thomas Bouchard's Award address.
2015 (Inaugural Year) Winner - Frank L. Schmidt
It is only fitting that the first Dunnette Prize be awarded to Dr. Frank Schmidt. The award is designed to “honor living individuals whose work has significantly expanded knowledge of the causal significance of individual differences through advanced research, development, and/or application.” These criteria define Dr. Schmidt. After receiving his PhD in Industrial Psychology from Purdue University in 1970, he began a career that spanned over 40 years and numerous employment sectors, from academia to government to business. Dr. Schmidt’s list of publications is astounding and includes seven books, over 200 studies, and over 300 presentations. Perhaps most impressive is that these publications have nearly 36,000 citations and that his current H Index is 77. His honors are too numerous for an exhaustive list to be provided here, but they include the APA Foundation Gold Medal Lifetime Achievement Award for Applications of Psychology, the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, and the APS James McKeen Cattell Award for Scientific Contributions to Applied Psychology. Dr. Schmidt has remained active in I-O research. Since his retirement in 2012, he has published four research articles and the third edition of his meta-analysis book, and he currently has four research papers under review. He also continues to serve on a number of editorial boards.
Updated 05 March 2021