Short Biography

Canadian by birth but American by temperament, I grew up hanging around with Americans at McGill University in my hometown of Montreal. I completed my B.A. in 1979 and finally left Montreal on a Canadian Scholarship (OK, thanks Canada) to study at Harvard (M.Ed., 1980), Columbia (Ph.D., 1986), and Yale (Postdoctoral Fellow, 1985-1987).  I returned to Canada for my first academic job at the University of Saskatchewan (1987-1989) in beautiful Saskatoon. I later moved to Nyack, NY and taught at Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie NY (1989-1996).  The Nyack-Poughkeepsie commute was about 65 miles each way, but I drove past West Point and other points of interest in the Hudson Valley.

I relocated to Weber State University in 1996 (for a brief history of the institution, click here) after falling in love with the west, the mountains, and Ogden. I now have on average a 3 minute commute with most of it staring at the 10,000 foot peaks of Ben Lomond and Mt. Ogden, where the 2002 Olympic Downhill and Super G events were run. I spent 2002-2003 on sabbatical at Clark University, where I had Bernie Kaplan's old office, which looked out at the courtyard area where G. Stanley Hall began the American Psychological Association in 1892. While at Weber State University, I have been awarded the Lowe Award for Innovative Teaching, the Endowed Professor in the Social and Behavioral Science, John S. Hinckley Fellowship, the Carnegie/CASE Utah Professor of the Year, and the Presidential Distinguished Professor. 

I am involved in a variety of academic and community service.  I worked on issues of general education, diversity, and student recruitment as part of my service to the university. I am also the university Due Process Officer, to ensure that students are treated fairly when they have complaints against the institution. I serve as a Vice President Programs of the Jean Piaget Society and President of the Rocky Mountain Psychology Association. I serve on the board of directors of the Treehouse Children's Museum, which was judged one of the fifty top children's museums in the USA by Child Magazine.  I am also Vice President of the Board of Directors of the DaVinci  Academy of Science and the Arts (DASA) which is a charter high school.  The DaVinci Academy was named the 2008 Utah Charter School of the Year. 

Maybe the thing I am most proud of in my career is my work with students on research.  It has been my style to work with as many students as I could. Whatever positive impact I may have had on students and their accomplishments, what is less well known is the impact that they have had on me.  To each I have told, if asked, to pay it forward:  To offer others what they received. I have been amazed to see how much forward paying there has been.  I have put together a list of students with whom I have had research collaborations over the years. I invite you to take a look at the list of WSU students with whom I have worked and their accomplishments (Student Research List).  Over the course of my career, a number of students I have worked with have themselves gone on to have university teaching and research careers (Students in Academia)

Picture taken at UCUR 2007

More personally, I enjoy family outings and trips, good dinners with close friends, and at least a mediocre round of golf, a competitive curling match, and a ski trip from which I come home intact.

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