Myrna Olson: Building programs and research on life experiences

Myrna Olson’s status as one of the nation’s top researchers and scholars in the field of education was noted at spring commencement when she and History Professor Gordon Iseminger received the University’s highest faculty distinction, that of Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor.

Just 15 of the University’s 600-plus current faculty hold the rank, created in 1973 with an endowment from Fritz, the legendary former student, precious metals trader, and UND benefactor. A modest stipend comes with the award; more important to the recipients are the medallion to be worn at academic functions and the right to use the title for life.

A professor of teaching and learning, Olson coordinates graduate studies in the College of Education and Human Development and teaches in its higher education doctoral program. She arrived at UND in 1973 as a doctoral student and joined the faculty two years later.

Her scholarly productivity over three decades has been impressive. At last count, she had brought in 12 external grants to support her work. Olson’s vita lists five books, three book chapters, 23 refereed journal articles, and 18 other articles. As an advisor she has chaired the committees of 30 doctoral graduates and served on the committees of an additional 40; at the master's level she has advised 138 students to completion and served on the thesis committees of an additional 20. Of the 25 classes Olson has taught at UND, she developed 19 of them as new courses.

According to Vice President for Research Peter Alfonso, Olson’s career demonstrates a sometimes overlooked truth at a research university such as UND: A good portion of an institution’s research, scholarship, and creative activity is fundamentally a “bottom-up” process driven by the interests of individual faculty members.

Thus, Alfonso says, a doctoral-research university needs to hire, support, and reward faculty who are excellent teachers and who also have a burning desire to share in the process of developing new knowledge in their fields.

At times, even a professor’s personal life can play a role in the topics they choose to explore.

Olson’s first journal articles were about improving the teaching of Braille to the visually impaired. Some of her later work, she says, evolved from a divorce, a second marriage, a change of career focus, and knowing someone who was discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.

Even the challenge of raising a child at an age when many women already are grandmothers resulted in a research project, she says with a smile. When her youngest son, Austin, now 14, exhibited signs of anxiety in kindergarten, his professor mother and a colleague decided to find out why. It turned out his stress – and that of a number of other children – originated in the lunchroom.

Piped-in music worked wonders, she recalls.

Chester Fritz Distinguished Professors currently serving on the UND faculty are:

Michael A. Anderegg, English; Michael C. Beard, English; Richard D. Crawford, biology; Albert J. Fivizzani, biology; Gordon L. Iseminger, history; David O. Lambeth, biochemistry and molecular biology; Richard G. Landry, educational measurements and statistics; Donald K. Lemon, educational leadership; Richard L. Ludtke, sociology; James E. Mitchell, neuroscience; Myrna R. Olson, teaching and learning; Brian O. Paulsen, art; Isaac Schlosser, biology; William F. Sheridan, biology; Sharon C. Wilsnack, neuroscience.