Bryce Fifield named Director of Utah UCEDD

June 9, 2008

Source: Center for Persons with Disabilities

Dr. M. Bryce Fifield (r) will be the Center for Persons with Disabilities' new director. He will assume his new job beginning in July.

Fifield is a graduate of Utah State University, where he received both his bachelor's degree in psychology and and his master's degree in counseling and school psychology. His doctorate in special education and rehabilitation is from the University of Oregon.

He has had an eventful and diverse career since earning his master's degree at Utah State. He was a school psychologist in Shelley, Idaho, a researcher in Arizona and Oregon and an associate director of the Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Idaho.

Most recently he was the executive director of the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities, located at Minot State University. He has served as chair of the North Dakota State Council on Developmental Disabilities and as a board member and treasurer of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.

He was selected for his new position by a committee that included administrators, CPD staff, individuals with disabilities and family members of people with disabilities. The USU Board of Trustees approved his appointment on April 11.

He is the son of former CPD Director Marvin Fifield and grew up "rubbing elbows" with many of the people who shaped the CPD into what it is today.

"There have been a lot of great people that have worked there over the years," Fifield said. "These are folks that I had as friends before I had them as colleagues."

Filling their shoes will be a challenge, he said, but, "We're looking forward to it. ... We are thrilled to come back to Utah State and be back on the campus."

Fifield and his wife, Laurie, are the parents of four children, all of whom have attended Utah State University.