Richard N. Williams – Founder/President
Richard N. Williams received his Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences from Purdue University. He is a professor in the department of Psychology at BYU and has also served on the faculty in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education at Brigham Young University. He was the founding Director of the Wheatley Institution at BYU. His scholarly interests include the philosophical, conceptual, and moral foundations of psychological theories and the relationship between traditional and postmodern perspectives. Related to this family of topics, he has written What=s Behind the Research: Discovering Hidden Assumptions in the Social Sciences (with Brent Slife), Sage Press, 1995, and edited (with Edwin Gantt) On Hijacking Science: Exploring the nature and consequences of overreach in Psychology,(Routledge, 2018), and Psychology for the Other, Duquesne University Press, 2002, and, with Daniel N. Robinson, Scientism: The New Orthodoxy (Bloomsbury, U. K., 2015). He has published in various scholarly journals, recently, with Edwin Gantt, Williams, R. N., & Gantt, E.E. (2025). Theory as Truth and as Ethics, Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 45(3), 195-210, “Methodological Naturalism, Saturation, and Psychology’s Failure to Save the Phenomena” (Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 2020), and “Truth in a Post-Truth World: Transcendence and the Essence of Meaning” (Journal of Constructivist Psychology, In Press.)
Edwin E. Gantt – Director
Edwin E. Gantt is currently Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University where he teaches courses on the History of Psychology, Personality Theory, Philosophy of Social Science, Qualitative Research Methods, and the Restored Gospel and Psychology. A native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, he served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan. He received a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1998, with a focus on Existential-Phenomenological psychology and qualitative research methods. He has authored and co-authored over 80 scholarly articles and book chapters. His research revolves primarily around the questions of moral agency, psychological explanation, and the relationship between religion, science, and psychology. In particular, he is interested in countering naturalistic and deterministic theories in contemporary psychology to help sustain an intellectual space where human agency, meaning, and morality can be taken seriously in our study of the whole person. He is co-author (with Richard N. Williams) of the books Psychology-for-the-Other: Levinas, Ethics, and the Practice of Psychotherapy and Hijacking Science: Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology, as well as former editor of the textbook series Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Psychological Issues. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. He and his wife Anita are the proud parents of four sons, three daughters-in-law, and the indulgent grandparents of three rambunctious, beautiful grandsons.
Lane Fischer – Director
Lane Fischer, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who has served as the president of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists (AMCAP, now labeled ALDSCAP), the editor of the journal Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy, and co-editor of the two volumes of Turning Freud Upside Down: Gospel Perspectives on Psychotherapy’s Fundamental Problems.
Samuel D. Major – Secretary
Samuel D. Major is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at Willow Therapy Services and a recent Ph.D. graduate in Psychology from Brigham Young University, where he studied under Dr. Edwin E. Gantt. A native of Utah, he earned previous degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northwestern University and in Psychology from Brigham Young University. His scholarly and clinical work center on the intersection of moral agency, virtue ethics, and human flourishing, with a particular interest in developing other-oriented approaches to therapy. He has authored or co-authored more than two dozen scholarly publications and presentations and has contributed encyclopedia entries to the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Dr. Major has taught and co-taught undergraduate courses in psychology at both Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. A frequent contributor to Public Square Magazine, he writes on faith, virtue, and moral psychology. In addition to his academic work, he regularly presents in firesides and other Latter-day Saint educational settings on topics of faith, virtue, and discipleship. He is the happy husband to Holli, enjoys good books, fun boardgames, and spending time with friends and family.
Brianna M. Holmes – Treasurer
Brianna M. Holmes received a master’s degree in marriage, couples, and family counseling from Idaho State University and is currently practicing as an Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor (ACMHC) and Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). Due to her extensive training in Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Brianna is especially passionate about working with individuals experiencing anxiety, OCD, relationship difficulties, and trauma. She is especially passionate about continued education and training to develop skills to provide best care for her clients. In addition to working full time as a therapist, Brianna has written many articles for Public Square Magazine promoting gospel topics and has also been published in The Humanistic Psychologist. She is particularly interested in researching and understanding the role of moral agency within the context of therapeutic practices. Brianna is a wife and mother of four. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading books, and cheering for her favorite hockey teams.
Kylie M. Burdge – Media Relations Officer
Kylie M. Burdge is a psychology resident in private practice in Utah County, where she works with individuals, couples, and groups. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Brigham Young University, where her dissertation, Transcending the Malaise of Psychology by Being for the Other, examined how an other-focused approach to therapy restores the moral and relational depth often missing in contemporary models. Her clinical training includes a pre-doctoral internship at Baylor University and prior work at BYU’s Counseling and Psychological Services and a private practice in Washington state. Dr. Burdge has presented at national conferences and published on ADHD interventions, the philosophy of therapy, and the integration of faith and psychology, including essays in Public Square Magazine. She has taught and guest lectured at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University and is co-authoring a forthcoming volume on Alterity-Focused Therapy™. As a member of the Sharon Institute Board, she seeks to advance a psychology grounded in the truths of the Restored Gospel and the moral and eternal nature of the human person.