A Tribute to Fred H. Bess

摘要

In the fall of 1978 when I arrived at Vanderbilt University for my master's degree in audiology, Fred H. Bess was head of Audiol-ogy and the recently appointed director of the Bill Wilkerson Center. Of course, I had no idea at that time that our meeting would mark the beginning of a more than 30-year relationship with his role defined, at different times, as mentor, colleague, and, most importantly, friend. What a pleasure it is to have, the honor of serving as guest editor for this tribute, or festschrift. In academia, a festschrift is a book honoring a respected academic presented during his or her lifetime, also translated from the German as "celebration publication," typically published on the occasion of the honoree's retirement.