About the Sanford I. Berman Award

First awarded in 2014, the Sanford I. Berman Award for Excellence in Teaching General Semantics went to individuals for outstanding use of general semantics formulations in educational settings. The award is presented by the Institute of General Semantics at its annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture.

About Sanford I. Berman

Dr. Sanford I. Berman (1924-2015) was a lecturer on Communications and General Semantics and Communications Consultant to business and industry. He was an instructor of Public Speaking and Psychology of Persuasion at the Illinois Institute of Technology, lecturer on General Semantics Communication at Northwestern University, and a lecturer on Communication Skills Management at the Management Development Seminar at the University of Chicago.

He had studied with the famous semanticist Professor S. I. Hayakawa and was assistant to Professor Irving J. Lee at Northwestern University. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Master’s degree from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and Doctor of Philosophy degree from Northwestern University. Dr. Berman lectured to thousands of people in national and international conventions and was the early morning lecturer to 5,000 safety directors at the 1962 National Safety Congress. He was one of the most popular lecturers on Communication and General Semantics in the country.

He delivered the 2003 Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and was the sponsor of the Sanford I. Berman Chair in General Semantics and the Debate Forum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He edited or co-edited six workbooks on General Semantics and authored How to Think, Communicate and Behave Intelligently: An Introduction to General Semantics and Words, Meanings, and People. He sponsored the Sanford I. Berman Award for Excellence in Teaching General Semantics, awarded through the Institute of General Semantics and the Dr. Sanford I. Berman Educational Foundation.

More about Dr. Berman may be found on the archive of his website http://effectivecommunicationgroup.com.

Dr. Berman passed away June 16, 2015.  A posthumous profile of him appeared in The San Diego Union Tribune.

Click here to read his obituary.

Past Recipients