Leona
Tyler
Background
Leona
Elizabeth Tyler was born in Chetek, Wisconsin on May 10, 1906. She spent her
adolescent years in the mining communities of northern Minnesota with her very
supporting parents and three brothers. She was a very talented pianist as well
as striving academically.
Tyler’s
parents encouraged her to pursue higher education as soon as she graduated high
school when she was 15 years old. At the age of 19, she received her Bachelor
of Arts degree in English from the University of Minnesota. For 13 years, she
taught literature and the English language. She became very interested in
psychology while working with junior high level students. She saw disturbances
and differences in each student that she wanted to figure out. From there, she
entered the PhD program in psychology at the University of Minnesota, receiving
her doctorate degree in 1941.
Tyler
was very dedicated to her work of teaching, writing, counseling, and research. She
published approximately 100 articles and books in her lifetime. At the age of
86, Leona died on April 29, 1993 due to
congestive heart failure in Eugene, Oregon.
Work
in Psychology
Tyler picked up a career in the Department of Psychology
at the University of Oregon while earning her PhD. She became a top faculty
member for advising more students in their theses and dissertations than any
other staff member. Due to the faculty shortage during World War II, Tyler also
worked in the University's Personnel Research Bureau, teaching mathematics.
With all this productivity, she also did work in counseling, with a goal of
peace-making, while guiding students’ vocational interests. Because of her many
years of experience with adolescents, she studied the development of interests
in high school girls for her dissertation.
Tyler
created the University’s Counseling Center by starting a counseling center for
returning war veterans. The university tried to put an end to this and limit
the role of psychology as a discipline. Tyler, very upset with this news, fought
back and threatened to resign; in return, she continued counseling. She
continued to encourage life-long, natural development in her counseling career.
Through all her experiences and studies, Leona published her book, The Psychology
of Human Differences, in 1947.
Tyler became the Dean
of Oregon’s Graduate school in 1965 and remained in this position until she was
instructed to retire in 1971 at the age of 65.
Tyler
continued working for another 20 years. She still had an incredible curiosity
in vocational interests. This led to years of research on why and how people
develop their interests and how that guides their career choices.
Tyler
is largely recognized in the field of Psychology for many reasons. During her
career, she was elected president of the Western Psychological Association, Oregon
Psychological Association, the Counseling Center of the APA, and later she
became the 81st President of the American Psychological Association.
She was only the fourth woman to be elected president of APA. She received many
awards including the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Oregon,
the Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota, the
American Psychological Foundation's Gold Medal for Life-time Achievement in the
Public Interest, a University colloquium series in her honor on her 80th
birthday, and an honorary doctorate from Linfield College.
References
Posted by Jessica Trainor
