In Memoriam: Maureen Morgan

Maureen Morgan, faculty director of the Wellesley College Child Study Center and a beloved member of the psychology department, passed away on Oct. 5, 2025. A lifelong resident of Massachusetts who served many years as a special educator in the public schools, Maureen brought her talents in early childhood to Wellesley in 2017. In addition to directing the laboratory preschool, Maureen taught an internship course cross-listed in psychology and education that trained students in child development and early childhood education as they taught in the classrooms. She also taught popular education courses in early childhood and special education in which students rapidly came to appreciate her ability to adjust her teaching and mentorship to their individual needs, just as she had always done with children.

Maureen held a B.S. in education from Lesley University and after a short stint at Tufts Educational Daycare, she earned an M.A. in education from Harvard University. Her later arrival at Wellesley marked a shift in the role of the Child Study Center director from fully administrative to a hybrid position that included faculty responsibilities. As such, Maureen facilitated a transition for the school from a developmental laboratory primarily serving psychology classes to a valued pedagogical resource for multiple departments. Her wisdom and generosity attracted numerous students to the fields of child development, early childhood education, and child advocacy and policy.

In her myriad roles, Maureen supported faculty, students, early childhood professionals, and families. In particular, her oversight of the training and education of Wellesley interns as classroom teachers at the Child Study Center solidified students’ practical understanding of the intersection of child development and early childhood education. Her mentorship emphasized seeing the strengths and individuality of each child, and many students returned as teachers semester after semester to glean her wisdom before joining the field themselves. Families mourned the transition from preschool to kindergarten, knowing that they were unlikely to encounter an educator with Maureen’s broad knowledge and deep understanding of their children. Early childhood professionals flocked to the preschool and to workshops where they could learn from her, and she rapidly became a well-respected member of the Council of Child Development Laboratory Administrators.

Maureen’s legacy cannot be measured. Her ability to reframe a child’s difficult behavior as a signal of an unmet need, and to design a way to meet that need by capitalizing on the child’s strengths, could redirect a parent or teacher’s behavior toward that child from frustrated and punitive to patient and supportive. Is it too grand to say that lives were saved? She would say yes, but her colleagues would call it an understatement.