"My wife Dorothy and I are of modest means, with state-university salaries, a family to support, and many worthy causes that demand our time and resources. But my career is in behavior analysis, and ABAI has been an essential part of it ever since I started graduate school in 1975. In the spirit of “charity begins at home,” Dorothy and I are glad to be able to commit $10,000 to the campaign. This is a lot of money for us, but we can manage it because we are spreading the contribution over five years. I hope others will join me in this opportunity to leave a legacy to our field and continue SABA’s support of work to understand behavior, transform lives, and shape our future."

Dr. Michael Perone is a professor in the Department of Psychology at West Virginia University. He has made substantial contributions to behavior analysis through his research, service, administration, and teaching. He is well known for his programmatic research on conditioned reinforcement, avoidance, and transitions from rich to lean schedules of reinforcement, and more generally for the elegance and ingenuity of his experimental methodology. He has secured support from NICHHD, OSHA, and NSF for much of his research. His investigations with animals and extensions of basic mechanisms to humans serve as a prototype for research translation. Dr. Perone's accomplishments in administration, service to the discipline, and teaching are similarly noteworthy. Dr. Perone served for 12 years as chair of the West Virginia University Department of Psychology, one of the foremost programs in behavior analysis. He has served as president of ABAI, SABA, SEAB, and SEABA. He has been appointed to key editorial positions for major journals in behavior analysis, represented behavior analysis on the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences, and served on numerous committees. In each of those roles, his skill and humor have been instrumental in bringing a charge to effective completion. Dr. Perone has received numerous awards for his teaching and mentoring, which, along with the successes of his former students, are testaments to his effectiveness in that arena as well.