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| BREAKING THROUGH SERIES 2020
MANDY LASKY
L
For the Star-Tribune
ast summer, the University of Wyoming held an event to honor an important figure in its history. Stephen Downey, a prominent 19th century Laramie lawyer and legislator, was officially being named the father of UW, and the Downey family had gathered with members of the university community to celebrate his legacy. As part of the event, attendees were asked to wear a name badge listing the Downey ancestor they had descended from. Dr. Narina Nunez, a psychology professor who attended the event, sported her own badge. It said “June Downey.” Technically, this was impossible. June, one of Stephen’s daughters, never had children. But during her 57 years of life, she led significant national advances in personality testing, made a historic rise to the top of the University of Wyoming’s psychology department and cultivated a lifelong love of writing and other creative pursuits. “(June) chose psychology,” Nunez said, remembering the warm reception her name badge garnered from the family that day. “So we’re her children.”
LEGACY
IN LARAMIE Groundbreaking educator June Downey left mark on psychology, university
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June Downey was born in Laramie in 1875. Her father, Stephen Downey, practiced law in Laramie, served in the Wyoming Legislature and as Wyoming’s territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress and was on the university’s board of trustees. He was also devoted to his family, said Rebecca Hein, assistant editor of WyoHistory.org, a project of the Wyoming State Historical Society. June Downey’s parents encouraged their children to pursue knowledge and learning at an early age in a variety of disciplines, including academia and the arts, Hein said. June Downey graduated from UW with a bachelor’s degree in 1895. The timing was crucial, as this was right as women were beginning to be hired for teaching positions at state universities, Hein said. It was just the time for June Downey to launch a prolific career that would ultimately shape the fledgling field of psychology and lift her to become the first woman to chair a department of psychology at a state university.
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Downey began her career in personality testing. She was interested in what handwriting and other muscle movements might indicate about someone’s
COURTESY PHOTOS, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
University of Wyoming professor June Downey made important contributions to the field of psychology. She was the first woman to chair a department of psychology at a state university. personality. “Psychology was just really getting started then,” Nunez said. “She was really in the right place at the right time, and she was very smart and very tenacious.” Downey had a particular interest in experimental psychology, especially after attending a summer session in 1901 at Cornell University, where she studied under experts and brought the tools and knowledge back to Wyoming for further use, Nunez said. That is also where she began to meet other experts in the field, making the academic connections across the nation that would strengthen her work and raise her profile in the world of psychology. Early in her career, Downey created one of the first personality tests in the U.S., Nunez said. It was an assessment
that included three main personality types, which Downey described as the quick, hair-trigger type; the decisive, willful type; and the cautious, accurate type. The assessment, called the Downey Individual Will-Temperament Test, is no longer in use, but Nunez said it’s remarkable how well Downey’s tool aligns with what modern personality tests assess. Downey was also interested in experimental methods and “good solid research,” Nunez said. That meant that while her personality assessment may not have entirely withstood the test of time, her methodology does. “It was June Downey who got us started” in research psychology, she said. Downey, a universally beloved educator, eventually went on to become the head of the UW department, making
her the first woman to chair a psychology department at a state university. She held the position for the rest of her life. The esteemed psychologist also left another mark on UW. The university is a founding member of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. That’s largely due to June Downey’s influence, Nunez said. Downey believed strongly in the need for a student organization that celebrated success.
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Downey’s research also had some legal implications, according to Hein’s article on WyoHistory.org. According to that article, in 1916, a Carbon County Jail inmate attacked a guard in an attempt to flee. The victim ultimately died, and the inmate was accused of murder. His lawyer entered a plea of insanity. That’s where Downey came in, using an IQ assessment on the inmate. She — and the jury — concluded that the inmate had a mental age of under 10 years old. Ultimately, he was sent to the Wyoming State Hospital for treatment. This type of legal defense was codified into law around this time as well, Nunez said. But that wasn’t the only noteworthy element of Downey’s work in the case. “To her, it was really important for the public to understand,” Nunez said. “It was a very rich way of thinking about it.” After the case, Downey wrote, More and more we realize that there are criminal acts but no criminals, and that society, if properly alive to the problem, could protect itself and the unfortunate man who may become a so-called criminal, by discovering him before he commits a crime.
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Over her lifetime, the renowned research psychologist published seven books and more than 70 articles. But her interests and abilities stretched far beyond academia as well: The eminent scholar with deep Laramie roots also penned poems, plays and even the UW alma mater. One of the books she wrote focused on the creative process. “She was so diverse in her creative pursuits,” said Hein. “Her involvement in the arts really enriched her life as a scientist.” Nunez agreed. In 57 years of life, she said, June Downey accomplished an incredible amount of work. “I’m not even sure I understand how she did it,” Nunez said. But whatever forces surrounded Downey’s success, Nunez is sure of one thing. “Her passion made it possible,” she said.
