UMaine Business Lecturer to Receive International Psychology Award
Contact: Scott Anchors, (207) 581-1927; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
Photo available upon request
ORONO — Maine Business School faculty member Scott Anchors has been selected as the 2009 recipient of a prestigious international educational achievement award in recognition of his work and research with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
Anchors, a lecturer in management at UMaine who has an academic background in both education and psychology, will receive the Gordon Lawrence Educational Achievement Award from the Association of Psychological Type International in Dallas, Texas in August.
The association recognizes an individual every two years to acknowledge “outstanding contributions to promoting the constructive use of psychological type,” a theory developed by psychology pioneer Carl Jung, and the basis for the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
The MBTI provides information about an individual’s approach to processing information and decision-making.
Anchors, who was a student affairs administrator and executive assistant to President Peter Hoff earlier in his career at the University of Maine, estimates he has used the Myers Briggs personality instrument with more than 20,000 UMaine students and staff throughout his career. He has conducted a variety of research projects over the years using the MBTI in conjunction with retention studies, student activity patterns and academic success. In the 1980s, he used the instrument to match roommates, for academic advising, program planning, and as a way to approach management challenges.
“My goal was to use the results to design effective programs and efforts that would contribute towards retention, assist students and faculty in understanding learning styles, as well as use it for career counseling,” Anchors says.
A recognized authority on the MBTI instrument, Anchors has written more than a dozen articles, co-edited two books on the subject and routinely applies Jung’s theories in his current job advising and teaching management and leadership.
Outside the classroom, Anchors also serves as a consultant with managers and businesses, using the MBTI for coaching, assistance in goal-setting and team development.
“More recently, I have applied my energy to teaching and applying my knowledge of Jung’s theory to differences in how managers use their time, how personality is related to a student’s choice of major, and, currently, I am exploring with a colleague how understanding the MBTI framework can help managers structure more effective meetings,” Anchors says. “Eventually, these will work into a publication.”
Anchors says his nomination for the award, by a former doctoral adviser at Iowa State University, was a surprise.
“Just totally out of the blue, I got a call saying I was receiving the award,” says Anchors, who is member of the Association of Psychological Type International. Anchors says he feels “flattered, humbled and honored.”
“The University of Maine has been essential in helping me cultivate my knowledge and experience in this area,” he says, citing administrative support when he requested a leave of absence to pursue a doctorate to deepen his knowledge.
Anchors also praises colleagues, with whom he is collaborating in continuing research.
“My current assignment in the Maine Business School has provided me excellent support and a great opportunity to integrate my decades of experience with this instrument into preparing managers and leaders of the future,” he says. “Effective managers and leaders need to have self-awareness of themselves, and this instrument provides an excellent framework.”