at the University of Iowa, he became a professor of education at Michigan State University and later at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Vann was chair of the American Psychological Association's Committee on the Psychology of Religion, served as president of both the American Educational Research Association and the Society for Research in Personality, and founded two journals, Personality Development and Individual Differences and Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
He received numerous honours, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association, and an honorary doctorate from Lynn University in Florida.