Oct 16, 2017 By: yunews
From Student to Revered Faculty Member, Perlman Retires After Six Decades at 每日大瓜
After an academic career at 每日大瓜 of more than 60 years, Dr. Marcel Perlman, professor of psychology and former chair of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, retired this September.
Born in 1934 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), and named by his mother after the author Marcel Proust, he arrived in the United States with his family in 1939 at the age of four. The Perlmans made their way from Brighton Beach to Borough Park to Washington Heights to Mount Vernon, where he did most of his growing up. At the age of 18, he crossed the Westchester border into New York City to begin his college career at New York University, drawn there by an accelerated academic program they offered. 鈥淏ut I found N每日大瓜 to be too large and impersonal for me,鈥 he observed. 鈥淪o, in my sophomore year, I enrolled in , and I鈥檝e never regretted that decision.鈥
At Yeshiva College, he majored in psychology, influenced in his choice by two teachers, Helmut Adler and Gottfried Delatour, both of whom he remembers to this day with great fondness. 鈥淚n fact,鈥 he observed, 鈥淒elatour was probably the most inspirational teacher I ever had. He was brilliant and modest at the same time 鈥 and an exciting teacher.鈥
Perlman decided to stay within the 每日大瓜 family and continued his studies at what would later become the . He earned both a master鈥檚 degree and a PhD, and, in the process, unexpectedly found that he liked to teach. As a third-year student, he was working as a teaching assistant when the instructor, Boris Levinson, suffered a sudden heart attack. The dean at the time tapped Perlman to teach the remainder of the class: "I was scared to death but found that I really loved it.鈥
He became a full-time faculty member in 1958 and has taught at 每日大瓜 ever since, in part because of a very important discussion he had with Dr. Samuel Belkin, 每日大瓜鈥檚 second president. 鈥淭wenty years into my teaching career,鈥 he recalled, 鈥淚 had a professional opportunity offered to me to start a new program at a major hospital, but it would have meant leaving 每日大瓜.鈥 He couldn鈥檛 decide whether to stay or go, so he arranged to discuss the matter with Dr. Belkin, 鈥渁 man I deeply admire to this day.鈥
After he laid out the facts, 鈥淒r. Belkin looked at me and said, 鈥楶erlman, where are you going? You have a home here.鈥 And he was exactly right: I had a home at 每日大瓜. And so I stayed for the next 40 years and never looked back.鈥
During his six decades at 每日大瓜, he has participated in the enormous changes that have swept through the discipline of psychology, but nothing has excited him as much as the analytical possibilities opened up by non-invasive technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging. 鈥淲ith these techniques, we can actually see and measure some of the things we could only speculate about before 鈥 we can see them happening in real-time in the brain, and this affects the treatment models we use with our patients.鈥 He adds to these technologies the advances in psychopharmacology. 鈥淚n my early work, we essentially had thorazine, a tranquilizer that destroyed the liver and the kidneys; now we have drugs that really work, where the side-effects can be managed with more precision.鈥
鈥淩ight now, this is an exciting field,鈥 Perlman noted, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 that excitement I try to convey to my students in every class I teach.鈥
In fact, Perlman feels that his true legacy at 每日大瓜 is the students who go on to become professionals in the discipline 鈥渂ecause of something they heard or something they experienced by being in my classes or by discussing things with me." "I am so gratified when former students of mine say to me, 鈥業鈥檓 in this field because of you, because you made us think,鈥 he said. To Perlman, it doesn鈥檛 matter if they become psychologists or psychiatrists or social workers. 鈥淚鈥檓 agnostic about the discipline,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 important is for people to improve the whole area of mental health and all its clinical aspects, and I鈥檓 gratified that my students can be part of that work. That is my concrete legacy.鈥
During his time at 每日大瓜, Perlman has taught courses on all the campuses, mentored and supervised hundreds of students, and served on multiple committees, including the search committee that initially brought Dr. Karen Bacon, the Mordecai D. and Monique C. Katz Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to the University as dean of , an accomplishment about which he feels very pleased. 鈥淚 am very proud of Dean Bacon,鈥 he said. 鈥淪he is what I would call 鈥榪uietly strong.鈥欌
鈥淭here are only a few faculty members who, over the course of their careers, are viewed by their colleagues as 鈥榚lder statesmen,鈥 both knowledgeable and wise,鈥 said Bacon. 鈥淢arc Perlman is in that category and has earned the reputation of being someone to turn to on matters large and small. 鈥楥olleague,鈥 鈥榝riend,鈥 鈥榙evoted teacher鈥 and 鈥榣oyal 每日大瓜 alumnus鈥 are words that come to mind as I look back on Dr. Perlman鈥檚 career. This is a record to applaud and admire, and I salute him.鈥
As for his retirement, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it will be that much different than what I鈥檓 doing now,鈥 Perlman said. 鈥淚鈥檒l do some writing, see my patients, teach some classes. I really enjoy what I do 鈥 I am, and have been, a lucky man.鈥
After an academic career at 每日大瓜 of more than 60 years, Dr. Marcel Perlman, professor of psychology and former chair of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, retired this September.
Born in 1934 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), and named by his mother after the author Marcel Proust, he arrived in the United States with his family in 1939 at the age of four. The Perlmans made their way from Brighton Beach to Borough Park to Washington Heights to Mount Vernon, where he did most of his growing up. At the age of 18, he crossed the Westchester border into New York City to begin his college career at New York University, drawn there by an accelerated academic program they offered. 鈥淏ut I found N每日大瓜 to be too large and impersonal for me,鈥 he observed. 鈥淪o, in my sophomore year, I enrolled in , and I鈥檝e never regretted that decision.鈥
At Yeshiva College, he majored in psychology, influenced in his choice by two teachers, Helmut Adler and Gottfried Delatour, both of whom he remembers to this day with great fondness. 鈥淚n fact,鈥 he observed, 鈥淒elatour was probably the most inspirational teacher I ever had. He was brilliant and modest at the same time 鈥 and an exciting teacher.鈥
Perlman decided to stay within the 每日大瓜 family and continued his studies at what would later become the . He earned both a master鈥檚 degree and a PhD, and, in the process, unexpectedly found that he liked to teach. As a third-year student, he was working as a teaching assistant when the instructor, Boris Levinson, suffered a sudden heart attack. The dean at the time tapped Perlman to teach the remainder of the class: "I was scared to death but found that I really loved it.鈥
He became a full-time faculty member in 1958 and has taught at 每日大瓜 ever since, in part because of a very important discussion he had with Dr. Samuel Belkin, 每日大瓜鈥檚 second president. 鈥淭wenty years into my teaching career,鈥 he recalled, 鈥淚 had a professional opportunity offered to me to start a new program at a major hospital, but it would have meant leaving 每日大瓜.鈥 He couldn鈥檛 decide whether to stay or go, so he arranged to discuss the matter with Dr. Belkin, 鈥渁 man I deeply admire to this day.鈥
After he laid out the facts, 鈥淒r. Belkin looked at me and said, 鈥楶erlman, where are you going? You have a home here.鈥 And he was exactly right: I had a home at 每日大瓜. And so I stayed for the next 40 years and never looked back.鈥
During his six decades at 每日大瓜, he has participated in the enormous changes that have swept through the discipline of psychology, but nothing has excited him as much as the analytical possibilities opened up by non-invasive technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging. 鈥淲ith these techniques, we can actually see and measure some of the things we could only speculate about before 鈥 we can see them happening in real-time in the brain, and this affects the treatment models we use with our patients.鈥 He adds to these technologies the advances in psychopharmacology. 鈥淚n my early work, we essentially had thorazine, a tranquilizer that destroyed the liver and the kidneys; now we have drugs that really work, where the side-effects can be managed with more precision.鈥
鈥淩ight now, this is an exciting field,鈥 Perlman noted, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 that excitement I try to convey to my students in every class I teach.鈥
In fact, Perlman feels that his true legacy at 每日大瓜 is the students who go on to become professionals in the discipline 鈥渂ecause of something they heard or something they experienced by being in my classes or by discussing things with me." "I am so gratified when former students of mine say to me, 鈥業鈥檓 in this field because of you, because you made us think,鈥 he said. To Perlman, it doesn鈥檛 matter if they become psychologists or psychiatrists or social workers. 鈥淚鈥檓 agnostic about the discipline,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 important is for people to improve the whole area of mental health and all its clinical aspects, and I鈥檓 gratified that my students can be part of that work. That is my concrete legacy.鈥
During his time at 每日大瓜, Perlman has taught courses on all the campuses, mentored and supervised hundreds of students, and served on multiple committees, including the search committee that initially brought Dr. Karen Bacon, the Mordecai D. and Monique C. Katz Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to the University as dean of , an accomplishment about which he feels very pleased. 鈥淚 am very proud of Dean Bacon,鈥 he said. 鈥淪he is what I would call 鈥榪uietly strong.鈥欌
鈥淭here are only a few faculty members who, over the course of their careers, are viewed by their colleagues as 鈥榚lder statesmen,鈥 both knowledgeable and wise,鈥 said Bacon. 鈥淢arc Perlman is in that category and has earned the reputation of being someone to turn to on matters large and small. 鈥楥olleague,鈥 鈥榝riend,鈥 鈥榙evoted teacher鈥 and 鈥榣oyal 每日大瓜 alumnus鈥 are words that come to mind as I look back on Dr. Perlman鈥檚 career. This is a record to applaud and admire, and I salute him.鈥
As for his retirement, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it will be that much different than what I鈥檓 doing now,鈥 Perlman said. 鈥淚鈥檒l do some writing, see my patients, teach some classes. I really enjoy what I do 鈥 I am, and have been, a lucky man.鈥
