Beverly Prosser Gelwick

This article is about the American psychologist born in 1932; for the American psychologist of similar name, born in the 1890s, see Inez Beverly Prosser.

Beverly Ann Prosser Gelwick (September 6, 1932 – July 21, 2023) was an American psychologist. She founded the counseling program at Stephens College, and was director of counseling services at the University of New Hampshire and at Bowdoin College. She held national leadership positions in professional organizations in her field.

Beverly Prosser Gelwick
Beverly Prosser, later Gelwick, from a 1955 newspaper
Born	Beverly Ann Prosser September 6, 1932 Lewiston, Maine
Died	July 21, 2023 (age 90) Cundy's Harbor, Maine
Occupation	Psychologist

Early life and education

Prosser was born in Lewiston, Maine, the daughter of Edward E. Prosser and Beulah Morrison Prosser.^[1] Her father was a teacher.^[2] She graduated from Lisbon High School in 1950,^[3] and earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University and the American Baptist Institute for Christian Workers in 1955. She earned a master's degree in education in 1971, and a Ph.D. in psychology in 1975, both from the University of Missouri.^[4]

Career

As a young wife and mother, Gelwick lived in Berkeley, California, and she was a student at the Pacific School of Religion. She was a church soloist and choir director in those years.^[5][6] The Gelwicks directed a YMCA girls' camp in California in the early 1960s.^[7]

After earning graduate degrees, Gelwick was the founding director of student counseling at Stephens College.^[1][8] At Stephens she received the college's Outstanding Advising Award in 1981.^[9] She was director of counseling services at the University of New Hampshire from 1983 to 1988, and at Bowdoin College from 1988 to 1997.^[4] Her research interests included women as nontraditional college students, math anxiety, and eating disorders.^[10][11]

From 1979 to 1985, Gelwick was president of the college and University Accreditation Board of the International Association of Counseling Centers (IACC). She was also president of the International Association of Counseling Services. She was a visiting lecturer at the University of Reading in 1972 and 1973, and taught a course on eating disorders at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1982. She held national leadership roles in the American College Personnel Association in the 1980s.^[12][13]

In retirement, Gelwick remained active in support of women's educational opportunities and other social causes.^[14][15]

Publications

• "Training Faculty to Do Career Advising" (1974)^[16]
• Up the Ladder: Women, Professionals, and Clients in College Student Personnel (1979)^[17]
• "Student Development and the Older Student" (1979)^[18]
• "Research on a workshop to reduce the effects of sexism and sex role socialization on women's career planning" (1980, with James M. O'Neil, Carroll Ohlde, Charles Barke, and Nancy Garfield)^[19]
• "Men’s Lives: Toward A Proactive Sex Role Intervention For Men and Women" (1981, with P. P. Heppner)
• "Accreditation Guidelines for University and College Counseling Services" (1982, with eight other authors)^[20]
• "The Definition and Prevalence of Bulimia" (1983, with M. K. Hamilton and C. J. Meade)
• "Cognitive Development of Women" (1985)^[21]
• "Counseling and Psychotherapy With College Men" (1988, with Kenneth F. Garni)^[22]

Personal life

Prosser married Richard Lee Gelwick, a clergyman and college professor, in 1955.^[23][24] They had two children, Jennifer^[25] and Allen. Her husband died in 2014,^[26] and she died in 2023, at the age of 90, at the village of Cundy's Harbor in Harpswell, Maine.^[27] She is honored with a brick in the Plaza of Heroines at Iowa State University.^[28]

A few weeks before her death, Gelwick learned that the remains of her cousin Stanley Willis Allen, who died at Pearl Harbor, had been identified and would be returned to the family in Maine.^[29][30]

References

1. "Counseling director". The Times Record. 1978-09-25. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Edward E. Prosser". Portland Press Herald. 1968-11-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Lisbon Falls; Many Awards Made at High School Graduation Exercises". The Lewiston Daily Sun. 1950-06-19. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Bowdoin hires director of counseling". Sun-Journal. 1988-06-12. p. 70. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Seminary Students Set 'Night with Brahms, et al'". The Berkeley Gazette. 1961-04-12. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Berkeley Methodist United". The Berkeley Gazette. 1962-04-21. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Berkeley YMCA Staff Members". The Berkeley Gazette. 1962-06-14. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "AAUW hears Dr. Gelwick". The Daily Capital News. 1976-11-23. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Gelwick is winner of special award". Sun-Journal. 1981-04-27. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Obituary for Beverly Prosser Gelwick". Sun-Journal. 2023-08-03. pp. A4. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Anorexia, bulemia affect mostly youths/B. L. Goldberg". Bennington Banner. 1984-02-27. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Ex-Lisbon Falls Woman Named Senator in ACPA". The Lewiston Daily Sun. 1981-03-17. p. 27. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "ACPA Generativity Project". ACPA. 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
14. Chase, Chris (2016-06-30). "Local PEO International chapter gives merit award; Organization aims to help education women". Coastal Journal. pp. P4. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Gelwick, Beverly Prosser "World Without Roe" Christian Century 122(19)(September 20, 2005): letters section; via Ebsco.
16. Gelwick, Beverly Prosser (November 1974). "Training Faculty to Do Career Advising". The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 53 (3): 214–216. doi:10.1002/j.2164-4918.1974.tb04150.x.
17. Gelwick, Beverly Prosser. Up the ladder: Women professionals and clients in college student personnel. No. 25. American College Personnel Association, 1979.
18. Gelwick, Beverly Prosser. "Student development and the older student." Student Development in Higher Education, edited by Don Creamer. American College Personnel Association (1980).
19. O'Neil, James M.; Ohlde, Carroll; Barke, Charles; Gelwick, Beverly Prosser; Garfield, Nancy (July 1980). "Research on a workshop to reduce the effects of sexism and sex role socialization on women's career planning". Journal of Counseling Psychology. 27 (4): 355–363. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.27.4.355. ISSN 1939-2168.
20. Garni, Kenneth F.; Gelwick, Beverly Prosser; Lamb, Douglas H.; McKinley, Donna L.; Schoenberg, B. Mark; Simono, R.B.; Smith, James E.; Wierson, Phillip W.; Wrenn, Robert L. (October 1982). "Accreditation Guidelines for University and College Counseling Services". The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 61 (2): 116–121. doi:10.1002/j.2164-4918.1982.tb00742.x.
21. Facilitating the development of women. Internet Archive. San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass. 1985. ISBN 978-0-87589-767-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
22. Prosser-Gelwick, Beverly; Garni, Kenneth F. (1988). "Counseling and psychotherapy with college men". New Directions for Student Services. 1988 (42): 67–77. doi:10.1002/ss.37119884207. ISSN 0164-7970.
23. "Miss Prosser's Troth is Told". Tulsa World. 1955-05-01. p. 73. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
24. "Beverly Prosser Wed to Richard L. Gelwick". The Bristow News. 1955-06-09. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-10-20 – via Newspapers.com.
25. "Jennifer Gelwick-Luecke – Plaza of Heroines". Retrieved 2023-10-20.
26. Gulick, Walter, and Phil Mullins, "Homage to Richard Gelwick. 1931-2014" (2014), Polanyi Society.
27. "Obituary: Dr. Beverly Prosser Gelwick". Press Herald. 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
28. "Beverly Prosser Gelwick – Plaza of Heroines". Retrieved 2023-10-20.
29. Graham, Gillian (2023-07-18). "Mainer killed at Pearl Harbor to be buried 82 years later". Portland Press Herald, via Spectrum Local News. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
30. Porter, Tom (May 25, 2023). "Pearl Harbor Victim and Bowdoin Alum to Be Laid to Rest in Maine". Bowdoin News. Retrieved 2023-10-20.