With the publication in 1965 of his volume Illness or Allness: Conversations of a Psychiatrist, John Dorsey (1900-1978) became known for the persistence and erudition with which he presented his philosophy, according to which health is to experience and enjoy all of oneself. It was John Dorsey's message not only in his prolific writings but also in his life and in his teaching.

This volume, University Professor John M. Dorsey, explores Dorsey's conscious self-development during the eighteen years he served in the unique post of University Professor at Wayne State University.

"The designating of a distinguished professor as University Professor, or in better style Professor of the University, is not a new idea but it is still uncommon. What is usually intended is the creating of a professorship attached to the university as a whole and to no one department or other unit. It requires of its holder unusual capacity to range over many disciplines and fields of interest.... He, or she, needs to be an exceptional person, of broader intellectual gauge than most other persons, of greater philosophical insight, of unique capacity to command many disciplines, of more than ordinary depth of scholarship. In all this, for such a professor, the major resource must be the Self. ...