WINTHROP ADKINS

ADKINS--Winthrop R.

Winthrop R. Adkins, Ph.D., age 82, a quintessential "teacher of life" passed away on July 17, 2015 from complications following lung surgery. He was a Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education at Columbia University, Teachers College where he taught masters and doctoral students in psychology, counseling and education. Dr. Adkins was born in Beirut, Syria (now Lebanon) on October 25, 1932 to Dr. Leslie John Adkins and Mrs. Edith Sanderson who were missionaries serving in Turkey and Syria. He was a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and of Princeton University, Class of 1955. He received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, Teachers College in 1963 where he worked on the groundbreaking Career Pattern Study. This was followed by a year at Harvard University at the Center for Personality. He was associated with the US Navy for over twelve years, first as a member of the NROTC at Princeton and then as a Naval Officer on the USS Salem, from 1955 to 1958, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. During that time he received training at the Naval Justice School. He became involved with the War on Poverty where he worked with the YMCA of Greater New York in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Project TRY, to develop a large training center for educationally and economically disadvantaged youth. In 1966 he became a founding faculty member of York College, City CUNY where he helped design the Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) program, directed at helping low income students achieve college success. His work at Teachers College and at the Institute for Life Coping Skills for over thirty years, reflected his passionate interest in developing new methods for helping people learn the complex attitudes and behaviors they needed to cope with the predictable life tasks of career, marriage, parenting, dealing with family dynamics, confronting loss and other psychological issues. His design of multi-media counseling systems to reach larger numbers of people was a major focus of his work. He trained thousands of graduate students on how to develop psychological, behaviorally based interventions, using his methods and theory, for a variety of populations and problems. Dr. Adkins numerous professional research and writing focused on these issues and he was in the process of writing a book which summarized his theoretical models and ways to apply them in all these areas. The Adkins Life Skills Career Development Program (ALSP) was his most successful and nationally known program. The ALSP was originally published by The Psychological Corporation, a division of Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich. The program helped people learn to make short-term and long-term job and career choices, become self-directing and learn to navigate occupational systems. Most importantly it helped people learn about and believe in themselves. The ALSP was used in over 2,000 agencies including prisons, homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation centers, welfare-to-work programs, economic opportunity centers and community colleges, in 45 states. The Institute trained over 5000 staff members as Life Skills Educators who delivered the program in their own agencies. Over 1 million people graduated from this program. The impact of the program was well documented in numerous academic research studies. There is Spanish and an Italian version of the program. A Life Coping Skills curriculum, based on Dr. Adkin's theory and methods, was instituted in over 200 community colleges in India to help students from small villages learn how to psychologically navigate larger urban life. Over the years, Dr. Adkins served on many non-profit boards of directors, including the YMCA of Greater New York, the HOPE Program for the homeless, the NYS Advisory Group on Adult Education, the Greenwich Adult and Continuing Program and the Center for Insurance Research. He was also a founding board member of Princeton Project '55 Center for Civic Leadership, inspired by Ralph Nader, a classmate, which helped Princeton undergraduates become involved with the work of non-profit and non-governmental organizations nationwide. In recent years, together with his wife Dr. Caroline Manuele Adkins, he continued to direct the Institute for Life Coping Skills, revising its 3rd and international editions. In semi- retirement, Win as he was affectionately known became an enthusiastic member of the Retired Men's Association of Greenwich, CT where he served on the Program Committee and was a Co-Director of the Melody Men, a singing group that entertained in nursing homes throughout the local area. He was predeceased by his parents and his sister Beverly Wells. He is survived by his loving wife Dr. Caroline Manuele Adkins, a Professor Emerita in Psychology and Counseling from Hunter College, City University of New York, his son Jason, and his wife Karen Kraut, his daughter Jennifer, and her husband David Ernst and five grandchildren, Benjamin, Julia, Daniel, Oakes and Locke. He is also survived by his sister Sally Wilbur and his brother Dr. Douglas Adkins and his wife Dr. Rapee Adkins, his former wife Susan Fisher and many nieces and nephews. Winthrop Adkins was an inspired and passionate teacher. He was concerned always with social and economic justice and with making a real difference in the world. He spent countless hours personally counseling people who were going through crises and transitions in living. He was a "force of life" who dignified everyone he met and made them feel special, no matter who they were. He was a loving husband, father, brother and uncle to all his family. He was always so much fun to be with. Our hearts are heavy and sad and we will miss him forever. There will be a Memorial Service at 11am on August 1st at Round Hill Community Church, 395 Round Hill Rd, and Greenwich, CT 06831.