Remembering Professor Emeritus of Psychology Stan Califf

Professor Emeritus of Psychology Stan Califf passed away Saturday, July 2. In the following letter to the Chapman University community, Chancellor Daniele Struppa remembered Califf as a beloved faculty member and leader who helped build the University’s psychology programs.

Dear Colleagues,

I am sad to announce that Stan Califf, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, passed away quietly and unexpectedly on Saturday night. Stan was a well-loved member of the Chapman community for many years, and will be greatly missed.

Services Set for Aug. 27

A memorial service for Professor Califf will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27, at 11 a.m., at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 800 N. Cambridge St. in Orange. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Town & Gown Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Originally interested in the ministry, Stan earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, then took a slightly different direction and completed a BA in Psychology at the University of Redlands; an MA in Psychology at USC; and a PhD in Psychology at the Claremont Graduate University. After teaching for three years at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, Stan joined the Chapman faculty in 1963.

Stan was instrumental in establishing the Psychology Department as it exists today and served as Department Chair at least three times over the years. He was active in faculty governance and was very involved in developing and monitoring the Psychology programs offered at the many Chapman Academic Centers (now Brandman University) throughout California.

Stan was very much a family man, and he loved to travel. With his wife Georgina, he even spent a teaching semester with the World Campus Afloat, when it was still a Chapman College enterprise. In the years since then, many other travels followed with their three children—Kristen, Jon, and Catherine—and, more recently, with some of their eleven grandchildren. Nine great-grandchildren, though too late to experience it themselves, can hear “grandpa’s travel stories” told by their parents and grandparents.

Jeannie Walker remembers Stan as a firm but gentle mentor, who steered her into her present role as Director of Student Psychological Counseling. His colleague Ron Scott said yesterday, “One of his passions was nature photography. I still have a small collection of nature photos that Stan gave me,” adding, “Stan was a gentle and thoughtful person who had Rogerian ‘unconditional positive regard’ for all he met. He was a very good and faithful friend for many years.”

A funeral service will be held Saturday, Aug. 27, at 11 a.m., at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 800 N. Cambridge, in Orange.