Speaking
at the Virgina F. Cutler Lecture, Dr. Gordon Limb reported data from the BYU
Research study STEP (Stepfamily Experiences Project), including risks and
benefits of growing up in stepfamilies.
Limb’s
lecture presented statistics on the changing family environment with emphasis
on the Native American family. His research with STEP has found that regardless
of ethnicity, family processes are more important than family structure.
Helpful
Family Processes during Remarriage Transitions:
Think about the age of children when making adjustments: kids under 5 tend to
feel abandoned, between 5-8 blame themselves, at ages 9-12 kids will side with
one parent or the other, however, all children under 9 adjust to change more
easily.
A Negative Co-Parenting situation
can trigger depression in the child. Negative co-parenting can be anything from
having different homework standards, forcing the children to take sides during
arguments, or enforcing different bedtimes.
Limb’s
research with Native Americans in the STEP Project found:
On average Native American children
are more “insecurely attached” during transitions than Caucasians, expressing
feelings of anxiety, emotional distance, and clinginess.
Allowing children to establish a
good connection with their stepsiblings can make a big difference.
Overall, Limb found that Children adjust well to different environments and situations if there is consistency, continuity, and efforts to build positive relationships between stepsiblings and stepfamilies.
Marguerite Madden, Professor and Director Center for Geospatial Research; Department of Geography, University of Georgia will give the 2019 Chauncy Harris Lecture on Thursday, November 21st at 11:00 AM in 250 KMBL. Dr. Madden’s lecture will examine understanding elephant movements and linkages to development, local communal farming and drought towards mitigating Human-Elephant Conflict in Africa.
Dr. Madden’s research interests include GIScience and Landscape Ecology, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), spatio-temporal analysis, geovisualization and geographic object-based image analysis, as applied to landscape-scale biological/physical processes and human-impacts on the environment.
Dr. Chauncy Harris and his family endowed the Chauncy Harris Distinguished Lecture at Brigham Young University in 2003. Dr. Harris graduated from BYU in 1933 at the age of nineteen with a degree in geology and geography. He was BYU’s first Rhodes Scholar and the valedictorian of his graduating class. He later earned a second B.A. from Oxford and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago. Dr. Harris is best known for his work in urban geography and the geography of the Soviet Union/Russia.
Last Thursday, the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences awarded Geography Alum R. Clayton Brough with the Alumni Achievement Award. Brough is a graduate of the College’s bachelor (‘73) and masters (‘75) programs of geography, though with the ease and eloquence that he delivered his lecture it was evident that he’d had many years of practice in front of cameras and crowds as a schoolteacher and weekend climatologist for ABC 4. Brough shared with us valuable lessons accompanied by entertaining anecdotes of his life, while bringing an encouraging spirit into the room during his lecture “5 Lessons I’ve Learned in 50 Years.”
Lesson 1: Think Carefully before You Agree to the
Wishes of Others
In opposition to the culture of ‘sending
it,’ Brough encourages his listeners to “not push send until you’ve thought of
the end.” Giving us a very real and very comical example of a mistake he made
while here at BYU that led to people believing he had married his sister,
Brough reminded us that even innocent good deeds could not end well if the end
is not thought through first.
Lesson 2: Don’t Leave Home without a GPS Receiver
Throwing it back to the good ol’ days of
no Google, no Siri, and a hard-to-read paper map, Brough related his experience
as a young Geography student to the importance of remembering to take our
spiritual guides with us wherever we go. On an assignment to map Utah County, Brough
and partner accidentally found themselves in the middle of the Dugway Proving
Ground, a military training area where new tactics and technology are tested. Whether
it be the still small voice or the strict direction of Siri, sometimes in life
it takes a couple of wrong turns in life to realize how important it is to have
a way to get back to the right place.
Lesson 3: Nourish a Good and Clean Sense of Humor
A good sense of humor is not just a fun
personality trait, but was extremely beneficial for Brough when he dealt with
negative comments during his time as a forecaster. Brough emphasized the
importance of being nice, and, again, thinking before you send.
Lesson 4: Find Happiness through Serving Others Including Those on
Both Sides of the Veil
The cheerful buzz in the room paused for
just one moment as Brough recalled the cancer diagnosis of both he and his son.
Brough, however, is grateful for the opportunity he had to reprioritize the things
in his life. Cancer caused him to slow down and appreciate his family and the
eternal significance of everything in this life. This focus sparked Brough’s
passion for genealogy and family history work, something he and his wife Ethel
Mickelson now do together.
Lesson 5: If You want to be Successful, Dream Big, Work Hard, and Pray
Often
Brough spent 30 years working with students and in that time learned that we must allow even the youngest students to dream big and think outside the box. Students at Eisenhower Junior High proved to be a testament of that as the holders of seven world records. A feat made possible by a handful of creativity, a spoonful of studiousness, and a dash of daring dreams.
Clayton Brough ended as he started, encouraging us to keep a sense of humor and remember to serve. Brough has since retired and now works at the Counselling Center at Copper Hills High School in West Jordan, Utah.
“The most powerful catalyst for healing is making connections with people who have had similar experiences,” says Laura Waters Black, co-founder of the Difficult Break-up Support Group on BYU campus. Waters Black, a family studies major, started the group because of her experience with a broken relationship and because she “did not want other people to feel alone.” With help from a friend, Waters Black was able to start the support group, receiving additional assistance from Professor Haupt of the School of Family Life, who, Waters Black reports, “believed in me and saw value in the idea.”
At the time Waters Black had the idea to start the group, she was also taking Professor Haupt’s SFL 315 writing class, a course that encourages students to publish their work and coaches them through the process. Waters Black felt inspired to write about her experience with a broken engagement for a class assignment, because she had “felt marginalized and isolated at that time and wanted to help others” by telling her story. Writing about her experience proved impactful to Waters Black, who said, “I never thought I’d do public scholarship, but writing about my experience was transformative and took me to areas I’d never thought I’d be in.”
Organizing and joining in on sessions of the Difficult Break-up Support Group has also proved to be a transformative experience for Waters Black. The support group involves 10-week sessions, with therapists leading psychoeducational discussions on topics such as trust, shame, and ambiguous loss. Participants engage in deep interactions and confront challenges together. As someone who has gone through similar trials, Waters Black says that she can be a mentor figure in these sessions, showing these women that there is “light at the end of the tunnel.”
Waters Black adds that the “most beautiful thing to see is when people with different experiences come together.” The group has included 20-year-olds and 60-year-olds, who are able to connect with one another despite their differences in age and life experience. Waters Black says that what has stood out to her from these group sessions is how the older women respect the pain of younger women. An older woman who experienced years of relationship challenges once comforted a 19-year-old who had a painful 6-month relationship by telling her: “Pain is pain for you, and I don’t think your pain is less than mine.” For Waters Black, the experience of creating and participating in the Difficult Break-up Support Group has been “healing for me in ways I didn’t think I needed.”
To learn about the importance of human connections in overcoming trauma, read Waters Black’s article here. Also, watch out for her upcoming article in the Ensign: “How a Broken Engagement Healed My Heart.”
In 1975, when Robert Clayton Brough was graduating with his masters in geography, BYU was celebrating its centennial birthday. On October 17, BYU’s College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences will be celebrating the life and achievements of R. Clayton Brough. Though Brough will be receiving an award from the College for distinguished achievements in his studies of geography, majority of Brough’s career was spent as an educator. For over thirty years, Brough taught Taylorsville middle school students geography, journalism, and science. The David O. McKay School of Education has also recognized Brough for the lives he touched throughout his career as a teacher. Brough will be giving his lecture Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 11 a.m. in 250 KMBL.
Brough taught people both in and out of the classroom. While most people use the weekend to relax after a taxing 9-5 week, Brough spent his time out of the classroom informing the people of Utah of the weather. For twenty-eight years, Clayton Brough served the citizens of Utah with a sunny smile as the weekend broadcast climatologist for ABC 4. A bright and lovable TV personality elevated Brough to something of a local celebrity, known best for his weekend spots and special 8-14 day forecast. This two-week glance proved helpful for Utahns in seemingly unpredictable seasonal weather.
Brough’s geographic background no doubt contributed to his success as a meteorologist and climatologist. He has held numerous board positions as a climatologist including the Vice President of the American Geographical Research Corporation of Utah, an organization dedicated to studying regional climates. Brough credits Dr. Richard H. Jackson and Dr. Dale J. Stevens, two BYU alum and geography professors Brough had during his time here as a student, for teaching him how to successfully interact with his students and inspire them to achieve their goals and dreams. Though Brough attributes these professors for helping his teaching career, they’re influence undoubtedly contributed to Brough’s own dedication to scholarly excellence. Years after his graduation, Brough came back to school and researched Utah climate with faculty members at BYU and Utah State University. Since then, he has published multiple scientific articles discussing the climate and geography of Utah. Brough’s degree did not limit his interest to education and climate. With a passion for his faith and family history, Brough has also published more than thirty articles relating to genealogy.
Genealogy is truly a passion of Brough’s. He has served four different times as Chief Genealogist for the Brough Family Organization, one of the world’s largest and oldest non-profit ancestral family organizations and surname associations. Brough has also served as secretary of the LDS Ancestral Families Association and was a member of the International Genealogy Consumer Organization for fourteen years. Of course, Broughs own direct family is of the greatest importance to him. His last night on air he stated that his leaving would fulfil his wish to “conserve my energy, preserve my health, and spend more time with my wife, children, and grandchildren.” Broughs immediate family consists of over a dozen grandchildren, four children, and his wife, Ethel Mickelson, of over forty-five years.
The college is honoring Clayton Brough for his academic achievements, though the rest of his life has truly been a model of the age-old saying “life is what you make it. Not only is Brough a cancer survivor, returned missionary, and an Eagle Scout, his teaching career was uniquely filled with the breaking of numerous Guinness World Records that he achieved with his students and coworkers. Amongst Eisenhower Junior High’s collection of records were World’s Largest Pan Loaf, World’s Longest Paperclip Chain, and World’s Fastest and Largest Human Mattress Dominoes. Eisenhower also held the record for most records held by one group. These record-beating feats were not all fun and games, Eisenhower teachers reported that they taught “teamwork, logistics, [and] problem-solving” to the students. Join us Thursday, October 17 to listen to Clayton Brough discuss his studies, world records, and more in his lecture “5 things I’ve Learned in 50 Years”.
The hottest spot on 9th East is no doubt The BYU Creamery. A lesser-known spot, just across the street from the ‘80s-styled ice cream diner is the BYU Comprehensive Clinic, located in The John Taylor Building. The clinic has been serving BYU Students and the surrounding community since 1976. As part of the Marriage and Family Therapy program here at BYU, the Comprehensive Clinic functions as a training and research clinic and offers free counseling services to BYU students.
Part of being a training clinic means that sessions are held by graduate students being supervised by experienced licensed professionals. These students also assist with the clinical research that is facilitated as well as the psychological theories that are constructed there. The research results can be found on the comprehensive clinic’s blog.
The blog features stories that provide brief descriptions of the results of their studies. Though all of the topics covered are along the lines of marriage, family life, and relationships, there are many options that relate to your everyday life as a student. These articles range from how siblings affect adolescent happiness to the secret of managing stress.
Both the physical comprehensive clinic and their blog are an excellent on-campus resource to students. To stay up to date on the research coming out of the comprehensive clinic, visit their blog’s page on their website. Information for scheduling appointments can be found on the FAQ page of their website.
