Rachel Kaplan, Ph.D., Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior, professor of natural resources, School for Environment and Sustainability, and professor of psychology, College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts, retired from active faculty status on May 31, 2015. She joined the University of Michigan faculty as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology in 1964, and was promoted to associate professor in 1977, and professor in 1987. In the School for Environment and Sustainability she was appointed associate professor in 1973, professor in 1978, and the Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior in 2000.

A leader in the field of environmental psychology, Professor Kaplan sought to understand the role the environment plays in helping people become more reasonable, effective, and psychologically healthy. Central to her research program is a conceptual framework, the Reasonable Person Model, that enabled the exploration of issues related to environmental preference, restorative opportunities, and expertise and engagement. Professor Kaplan's more recent work focused on the psychological dimensions of sprawl, the local planning process, the view from the window, and patterns of involvement. Her extensive list of scholarly publications includes The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective (1989), With People in Mind: Design and Management of Everyday Nature (1998), and Fostering Reasonableness: Supportive Environments for Bringing Out Our Best (in press). An outstanding teacher and unflagging mentor, Professor Kaplan taught a wide range of courses, served on 73 doctoral committees and 52 master's committees, and received the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies' Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award in 2012.