Dr. Fran Stettner, a Retired Wayne State University Psychology Professor Has Sadly Passed Away
Francine Wehmer Stettner (1936-2017)
Dr. Fran Stettner, a retired Wayne State University Psychology Professor and Ex-President of WSU's AAUP, died in Bar Harbor, Maine, on February 23, 2017. Born in the Bronx and a graduate of City College of New York, she received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1962 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a member of the Biopsychology Area of the Psychology Department at WSU from 1964 until she retired in 1997. Her research publications include studies of rat maternal behavior and the effect of rat prenatal nutrition on later development as well as studies of alexithymia in human subjects. She greatly enjoyed teaching and often taught courses for honors students.
Active on tenure and search committees within the Department, Fran also served on many University committees. Committed to faculty union activities, she was president of the AAUP in 1973-74. In that role, she worked tirelessly to obtain equal pay and benefits for women. Later in her career, she served as Director of the WSU Honors Program, working to expand and anchor the program within the University. In addition to mentoring students, she had a special talent for integrating new faculty into the Department. Fran made them feel welcomed and destined for success with many tips, suggestions, nudges and encouraging conversations. She had a knack for motivating both students and faculty to accept challenges and perform at their best. For those who stepped up to the plate, she was a strong advocate.
Her sharp wit demonstrated her lively intelligence and interest in others. She knew the very best jokes and when to tell them. In addition, she was a killer scrabble player. She was a warm and generous hostess at many gatherings of faculty, friends, and students. One of her passions was politics: she was a committed, liberal Democrat and feminist. Never one to mince words, everyone quickly knew her position on any issue that surfaced. Fran could get to the bottom line faster than anyone. She would listen to a group discussion with several points of view, digest them, and come up with the definitive comment that perfectly expressed the heart of the matter.
Fran fell in love with Maine during time she spent at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor as a researcher in 1969. One wall of the Stettner home was always covered with a huge map of Mount Desert Island. After retirement, she and her husband , Larry, also a Psychology Department Professor, moved to Southwest Harbor (on the island) where she enjoyed small town life, new friends, seafood, and the outdoors. Always an engaged citizen, she was a member of the Southwest Harbor Planning Board for several years. Touring and hiking the island with visitors delighted her. In her last years, she coped with many declines from Alzheimer's Disease but benefited greatly from the dedicated, loving caregiving of her husband. She is survived by Larry; their son, Andrew; her daughter-in-law, Jeanny; her sister, Roberta Innenberg; three grandchildren; Larry's children from his first marriage, Janet Borders, Mark and Judy Stettner, Peggy and Bob Manchester, and their children.
Her friends and colleagues will remember Fran as a powerful, intelligent woman who made many significant and lasting contributions to them personally and to the Department and the University. A service in Maine to celebrate her life is planned for May around the time of her birthday, May 19.