Raymond C. Pitts
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Raymond C. Pitts received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Florida, where he worked with E. F. Malagodi and Marc N. Branch. He conducted research in behavioral pharmacology as a postdoctoral research associate at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine and as a research assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill before joining the faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) where, since 2005, he has held the position of professor of psychology. Among Dr. Pitts’s noteworthy contributions is his influential work on behavioral mechanisms of drug action. By the early 2000s, the field of behavioral pharmacology had become increasingly focused on pharmacological variables with the receptor action of drugs providing the main theoretical impetus. Since then, however, Dr. Pitts has published an important series of studies demonstrating how quantitative analyses can help us understand drug effects in behavior analytic terms. Dr. Pitts has also made enduring contributions as an educator and as a leader in professional organizations. He has served terms on the Executive Council of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and as co-chair of the Division 25 convention program. He has had a major impact on ABAI in a number of capacities, including as a member of the Science Board, co-chair of the convention program committee, and experimental representative to the Executive Council. Dr. Pitts was a key member of the group that founded the graduate programs in behavior analysis at UNCW, and he has opened his laboratory to train and inspire scores of students. He is known as a thoughtful and good-natured mentor who shapes both methodological sophistication and enthusiasm in his students, and many new behavior analysts have found their way into the field because of him.