Dr. Cureton joined the faculty as head of the university’s Department of Philosophy and Psychology in 1947. When a separate Department of Psychology was created in 1959, he became its head and served in that capacity until 1963. He retired in 1972. He was a specialist in mathematical psychology and psychometrics and a prolific contributor to academic journals, having published nearly one hundred articles.
He wrote the entry on psychometrics in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968), coauthored (with Philip Rulon) The Earth and Its Life (1932), and was author of Factor Analysis: An Applied Approach (1983). He served as president of the Psychometric Society (1946), the Evaluation of Measurement Division of the American Psychological Association (1953), the Tennessee Psychological Association (1953), and the Southeastern Psychological Association (1958). He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Psychological Association. His intellectual contributions to the life of the university have been recognized by placement of a plaque in his honor on a faculty study.