Cyril Houle
Personal Vita
11/25/98
Compiled by Roger Hiemstra, August, 1990; data gathered by Dixie L. Glenney, Adult Education graduate student, Fall, 1989, Roger Hiemstra, and by compilers for published resource guides.
Name
Cyril Orvin Houle.
(Cyril O. Houle; Cy Houle; C. O. Houle)
[source: Roger Hiemstra]
Strategy Hints
Papers at Syracuse University, Arents Library.
[source: Terry Keenan, Arents Library]
Bio/historical Note
Born in Sarasota, FL, son of John Louis and Annie Mae (Hesock) Houle. Married Bettie Carr Eckhardt Totten, 1947-05-15. Children--David Eckhardt. On the faculty in Education at the University of Chicago during his career. First recipient of the W. P. Tolley Medal, Syracuse University, 1966-10-12. Citation from the Association of University Evening Colleges, 1966. Award of Merit from the National Association of Public School Adult Education, 1967. Winner of the Imogene Oakes award for Continuing Learning in the Professions, 1980. During WWII Houle administered training programs for servicemen at the University of Chicago.
[sources: Dixie L. Glenney, Adult Education Graduate student, Fall, 1989; the citation given to Houle at the presentation of the Tolley Medal at Syracuse University, October 12, 1966]
Birth Date
March 26, 1913
Source of Birth Date:
Who's Who, Vol. 45, 1988-89, 1479.
Death Date
May 6, 1998
Source of Death Date:
Education
1930-34--A.B., Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
1934--M.A., Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
1940--Ph.D., Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1950-51--Fulbright Fellow, United Kingdom.
[sources: Leaders in Education, 4th ed., 1971, 445; Who's Who, Vol. 45, 1988-89, 1479]
Work History
1939-42--Instructor, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1940--Visiting Instructor, University of California, Berkeley, CA (summer).
1942-48--Assistant Professor, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1948-52--Associate Professor, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1950--Director of UNESCO workshop on Adult Education in Libraries, Sweden.
1944-52--Dean, University College, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1952-78--Professor of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1960--Knapp Visiting Professor, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
1961--Lecturer, University of Washington (summer).
1961-1962--United States representative to the United Nations on Adult Education and Advancement.
1966--Consultant, University of Liberia and the University of Nigeria.
1967-68--Visiting Senior Resident Specialist, Oxford.
1976 to present--Senior Program Consultant, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, MI.
1978 to present--Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
[sources: Dixie L. Glenney, student, Fall, 1989; Leaders in Education, 4th ed., 1971, 445; Who's Who, Vol. 45, 1988-89, 1479]
Associated Subjects
Activity-oriented learner.
Adult Learners.
Continuing professional education.
Goal-oriented learner
Great Books Movement.
Houle typology.
Inquiring mind.
Learning-oriented learner.
Non-traditional study.
Participation in adult education.
Participation in adult learning.
Program planning.
Systematic design model.
[sources: Knowles, Malcolm. Review of The design of education, by Houle, Cyril O. Journal of Higher Education, 43 (1972): 661-664; Roger Hiemstra]
Associated People
Boshier, Roger; Knowles, Malcolm; Houle served as Knowles' major advisor; Tough, Allen; Tough's work with adults' learning projects can be traced to Houle's work on the inquiring mind.; he also studied under Houle
[source: Roger Hiemstra]
Associated Organizations
Adult Education Association of the U.S.A. [AEA-USA].
American Educational Research Association [AERA].
Chicago Adult Education Council.
Delta Tau Delta.
Illinois Adult Educational Research Association.
Kellogg Foundation
National Academy of Education.
National Advisory Council on Extension and Continuing Education.
Phi Beta Kappa.
Phi Kappa Phi.
Quadrangle Club of Chicago.
United States National Commission and International Congress of the Advancement of Adult Education.
University Club of Chicago.
[source: Leaders in Education, 4th ed., 1971, 445]
Associated Events or Projects
Founding member of the Mentors I & II videotape series on adult education, University of Georgia, 1974.
Commission on Non-Traditional Study, early seventies.
Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education Program
[sources: Historical study of Cyril Orvin Houle, term paper by Dixie L. Glenney, graduate student, Fall, 1989
Associated Places
Sarasota, FL
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
[source: Roger Hiemstra]
Publications
Numerous articles, monographs, books, and book chapters.
Some of his most important books are as follows:
Houle, C. O. (1961). The inquiring mind. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Published as a second edition in 1988 (with an afterward by Houle) by the Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
Houle, C. O. (1972). The design of education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Houle, C. O. (1973). The external degree. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Houle, C. O. (1980). Continuing learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Houle, C. O. (1984). Patterns of learning: New perspectives on lifespan learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Houle, C. O. (1992). The literature of adult education: A bibliographic essay. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
References To
An electronic memorial can be found at a University of Georgia web site
Boshier, R. (1971). Motivational orientations of adult education participants: A factor analytic exploration of Houle's typology. Adult Education, 21, 3-26.
Boshier, R., & Collins, J. B. (1985). The Houle typology after twenty-two years: A large-scale empirical test. Adult Education Quarterly, 35, 113-130.
Cervero, R. M., Dimmock, K. H. (1987). A factor analytic test of Houle's typology of professionals' modes of learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 37, 125-139.
Furst, E. J. (1986). An interpretation of the Boshier-Collins cluster analysis testing Houle's typology. Adult Education Quarterly, 36, 235-237.
Knowles, M. S. (1989). The making of an adult educator: An autobiographical journey. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. In this autobiography, Knowles describes in several locations throughout the book how he was influenced by Houle, his major professor.
Knox, A. B. (1984). Response to Woll's critique of Houle's Continuing learning in the professions. Adult Education Quarterly, 35, 51-54.
Woll, B. (1984). The empty ideal: A critique of Continuing learning in the professions by Cyril O. Houle. Adult Education Quarterly, 34, 167-177.
[sources: Dixie Glenney; Roger Hiemstra]
[Postscript: Dr. Houle was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame in 1996.]
Modified on May 6, 2002
-- Cross-reference to Project Vitae in Adult Education
-- Cross-reference to Adult Education History Project--Houle's Personal
Papers
-- Cross-reference to Adult Education History Project--Houle's Vita