Paul S. Goodman

Paul S. Goodman (1937-2012), an acclaimed organizational psychologist, author, and filmmaker, was the Richard M. Cyert Professor of Organizational Psychology at CMU’s Tepper School of Business. His research focused on work groups, knowledge sharing, technology, and organizational change.

Born in Cambridge, MA, Goodman earned a BA in economics at Trinity College, CT, in 1959, an MBA at Dartmouth College in 1961, and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology at Cornell University in 1966. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in 1972.

One of Paul Goodman’s most important legacies is the worldwide partnerships that he developed for Carnegie Mellon University. As director of CMU’s Institute for Strategic Development, Goodman helped build educational programs in India and South Africa, establish an educational network in Latin America, and design a new School of Information Systems in Singapore.

An outstanding educator, Goodman used video as a powerful tool to help students understand the changing nature of work. Together with his wife Denise Rousseau, H.J. Heinz II Professor at the Heinz College and Tepper School of Business, he produced 20 educational videos, as well as two documentaries shown on PBS stations nationally. A third documentary, still in production, is devoted to the "ship breakers" in Vietnam and China who dismantle large cargo ships by hand to sell scrap metal.

See also:

• "Classified obituaries." Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Monday, March 25, 2013.
• Burd, Mark. "Professor Paul S. Goodman Was World-Renowned Psychologist, Researcher, Author and Filmmaker at Carnegie Mellon." Carnegie Mellon News. January 26, 2012.
• Mao, Kechun (Coco). "Internationally minded Tepper professor dies at age 74." The Tartan. February 6, 2012.
• Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. "Paul S. Goodman." Faculty Directory.