Harry Kirke Wolfe - Career

Career

After his graduation from the University of Nebraska Wolfe spent the next three years teaching and working as a principal in three different Nebraska public schools.

In the fall of 1889, Wolfe and his wife Katherine Brandt Wolfe (they married on December 16, 1888) returned to Nebraska where he was offered a position as chair of the philosophy department. Upon arrival he wasted no time in pressing that scientific psychology and education be added to the curriculum. His teaching courses in “General Psychology” and then “Experimental psychology” led to the building of a psychology laboratory which was built partially in support of the class but also for Wolfe to conduct his own research in. In 1895 George Washington Andrew Luckey to the department was hired to teach pedagogy taking over some of Wolfe’s courses. At this time Wolfe added a new course “Seminar for Experimental Psychology” to the psychology curriculum. This course enabled him to gain for work he was already doing: directing original research projects for his students, each student was required to carry out a research experiment of their own design.

Wolfe was a part of the founding of the Nebraska Society for Child Study which was formed in 1895. He was elected to the executive committee in one of the two at-large seats. They created an advisory board to assist in round tables and planning meetings and conducting research. One position on this board was “professor of experimental psychology” a position clearly created in reference to Wolfe. In the years following the creation of the society Wolfe was a frequent speaker at local round tables, education meetings, to parent groups and at some commencement activities. He was a popular speaker, knowledgeable about the child study literature, and inspiring in his call for people to join the “greatest educational movement” the world has ever experienced.

Wolfe also helped to found The American Journal of Psychology. He taught at the University of Nebraska until his death from a heart attack in 1918, which followed six weeks after he and other faculty were charged by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents with "hesitating, halting and negative support of the government" (during World War I). He and his fellow professors were accused of having “improper attitudes”, which communicated even unintentionally, might cause someone else, such as a student, to not support the war effort. This was seen as more than adequate cause for dismissal.

Wolfe spent twenty-one and a half years as a college professor. During that time he worked largely with undergraduate students, although he did supervise some master’s degree students in education after 1895 and some master’s degree students in philosophy and psychology in 1906. Among Wolfe’s students were many who went on to be successful as attorneys, business owners and particularly as school teachers and administrators. Twenty-two of his students went on to become successful in the discipline of psychology. Three of Wolfe's students later served as presidents of the American Psychological Association.