Psychology Professor Elizabeth Stroot announces retirement
Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Stroot, Ph.D., the architect of Lakeland University’s psychology and Master of Counseling programs, will retire at the end of this academic year.
When Stroot arrived at Lakeland in 1999, the psychology major had 11 students and seven of them were graduating seniors, By the time she won the Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2010, she had designed a new psychology major and minor (2003-04), and the program had grown to nearly 60 students and a second full-time faculty member. She updated the major and minor again in 2012-13, and more recently in 2017-18 with her two new psychology faculty colleagues.
Stroot ran the psychology club and the psychology laboratory for many years and presented research conducted with her students at regional conferences. Psychology continues to be one of Lakeland’s most popular programs with 86 majors and minors on the main campus and 78 in the Kellett School.
In 2009-10, Stroot designed and wrote the curriculum and led the development of Lakeland’s counseling program, which has grown into one of LU’s most popular graduate offerings. She continued to serve as an informal consultant to the director of the program for many years.
Students know Stroot for teaching some of LU’s most demanding courses with a dose of humor and compassion that’s part of an engaging approach. In her years at Lakeland, Stroot taught 12 different psychology courses and designed 10; she taught four different interdisciplinary studies courses and designed three; and she taught three different master of counseling courses and designed 14.
Her 23 years at Lakeland include an extensive track record of leadership and service to the institution. She served as chair of the Division of Social Science from 2010-16 and currently serving as chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Division. She was instrumental in creation of Lakeland’s Institutional Review Board, a group that evaluates and approves research projects by students and employees and is currently participating in the revision of Lakeland’s remedial education program.
Stroot has led numerous committees and faculty searches and served as a member of many others, mentored new Lakeland faculty members and advised countless Lakeland students. She also helped create LU’s Hmong American Student Association.
Stroot serves as treasurer of the Wisconsin Conference of the American Association of University Professors, and is a member of the Lakeland University chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Locally, she serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of the Sheboygan County Half-Way Houses (The Abode, The Manor, The Haven and Potter’s Place).
Stroot came to Lakeland from the University of Delaware where she earned her masters and doctorate in clinical psychology, completed a one-year neuroscience fellowship, and taught undergraduate courses. Stroot spent a year in Buffalo, New York as a doctoral resident at the New York Veterans Administration Medical Center. As a first-generation college student, Stroot earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Florida Atlantic University and graduated summa cum laude. She is a member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
