Title of Humanics Lecture
Humanics: Creed Vs. Deed
Earned Degrees
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts (1975)
Master of Science, University of Massachusetts (1950)
Bachelor of Science, University of Massachusetts (1949)
Final Title at Springfield College
Professor of Bioscience
After teaching for a number of years at Baystate Medical Center, in 1954 Dr. Cohen became a part time lecturer at Springfield College and in 1968 he was appointed a full time Associate Professor of Biology. He was the chair of the Biology Department from 1969 – 1981 and in 1971 he joined several SC colleagues to create courses to support Environmental Studies that used East Campus as a laboratory. In 1983 he was named the Coordinator of Nursing and Allied Health and continued to work on expand the college allied health related curriculum. Throughout is career Dr. Cohen understood that biology is a foundation for medical and health related careers. He co-founded the School for Medical Technology while at Baystate Medical Center and 30 years later the Joel R. Cohen Award was established to be presented annually to outstanding teachers in that school. During the course of his career at Springfield College Dr. Cohen continued to be involved in a variety of a health-related changes in the curriculum. His stated teaching philosophy was that “One of my functions as a teacher is not to just present didactic material in the classroom but to demonstrate the application of this information in a real-life situation”. Dr. Cohen retired in 1992 and died in 2012.
