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Brigham Young University
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Elizabeth J. NortonExecutive Coordinator of Clinical PsychologyDepartment of Psychology Brigham Young University 288 TLRB Provo, Utah 84602 (801)422-6479 lisa_norton@byu.edu |
I’d like to share with you a few thoughts on my interest in psychology. Like most of you, I have been fascinated with the vast differences in human behavior that I have observed over the course of my life. And, like some of you, I have been exposed to a broad range of fellow travelers in some unusual circumstances. Let me tell you briefly about this journey.
Raised in a community outside of Detroit, Michigan, I headed West to attend Utah’s Brigham Young University where eventually I received my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. After serving on the faculty of BYU for two years, I traveled overseas with my husband, Robert, also a college teacher.
Our three years in Irbid, Jordan from 1979-1982 taught me much about the hospitable Jordanian people as I headed the Master’s degree Counseling program at Yarmouk University and taught part-time afer the birth of our son, David. During the next three years in Beirut, Lebanon, I came to appreciate the resilience of the Lebanese people and the dedication of students at the American University of Beirut as they struggled with a devastating Civil War. We were caught up in the events of that difficult period culminating in our evacuation 3 days after the birth of my daughter, Nadia.
Returning to the U.S. I mingled with wonderful people in several parts of the country that were new to me. I taught courses at Eastern Oregon State College in the beautiful rural community of LaGrande, Oregon as well as at University of New Orleans, in a bustling cosmopolitan area of southeast Louisiana.
In 1992, immediately following the Persian Gulf crisis, our family traveled to the Emirate of Bahrain where I had the opportunity to teach for 2 years in the K-12 school affiliated with the U.S. government. My third grade class was there to provide for the educational needs of dependents of military personnel serving with the Defense Department. In many ways, however, it looked like a miniature United Nations - 11 nationalities were represented in my class of 20, and there we learned to respect individual differences.
In 1994 our family returned to the U.S. where I rejoined the faculty at BYU. I have now moved into an administrative position, working closely with the doctoral students in our Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. However, since I find the teaching environment stimulating, I continue to instruct Abnormal Psychology each semester and work with Independent Study in offering General Psychology.
When not busily involved in my responsibilities with BYU or in activities with my family, I can be found reading a good book or participating in a musical endeavor as organist, director, or teacher.