Mike Tyler, PhD
Vice President of Academics
Office phone: 248.476.1122, ext. 126
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Tyler joined the Michigan School of Psychology in 2022 as the Dean of Academic Programs. As an experienced administrator and licensed psychologist, he brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing higher education broadly as well as the unique needs faced by psychology programs.
Dr. Tyler completed his degree in Counseling Psychology at Indiana University and immediately accepted a position as a founding faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University. While in Florida he was actively involved in professional associations at the state and national level, received two teaching awards, and maintained an active research program. With his family he relocated to Michigan where he was on the faculty of Wayne State University and served in an administrative capacity at Baker College. Most recently he has served as the Associate Provost for Graduate and Online Education at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Outside of academia, Dr. Tyler worked for several years in a psychiatric hospital primarily with young adolescents. In Florida he worked with Southwest Florida Addiction Services primarily in an adolescent residential drug treatment center, as well as a community mental health center meeting the needs of clients in the rural interior of Florida. In his private practice, he focused on relationship issues.
Over the years Dr. Tyler has engaged in research on ethics and professional development, small group training, and meeting the needs of the LGBTQIA population. He has actively engaged with researchers in business disciplines as well as child development to grow his understanding of how various psychological practices and models can be applied in non-counseling settings. Recently he has been exploring life choices and the barriers to engaging in life-long dreams: Why do we wait to address our bucket list until we may be too old to really savor the experience?
Education
- PhD in Counseling Psychology, Indiana University
- MS in Community Agency Counseling, Purdue University
- BA in Political Science, Earlham College
- Fellowship at the Albert Ellis Institute for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Licensure
- Licensed Psychologist – Flordia PY5915
Areas of Expertise/Interest
- Group Counseling
- Ethics
- Research Methods
- Test and Measurement
- Bereavement and Loss
- Social Justice
Selected Publications
Sabella, R. A., & Tyler, J. M. (2010). Technological literacy and mental health counseling. In A. J. Palmo, E .J. Weikel & D. P. Borsos (Eds.), Foundations of mental health counseling (4th ed.). Charles C. Thomas.
Tyler, C. L., Anderson, N., & Tyler, J. M. (2009) Giving students new eyes: Benefits of having students find media clips. Journal of Management Education, 33, 444-461.
York, K. M., Tyler, C. L., Tyler, J. M., & Gugel, P. E. (2008). The ever-changing face of sex stereotyping and sex discrimination in the workplace. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 15, 123-135.
York, K. M., Tyler, C. L., Tyler, J. M, & Gugel, P. E. (2006). Of fighting fires and firefighters: Sex discrimination in the workplace. Manuscript under review.
Sabella, R. A., & Tyler, J. M. (2006). Technological literacy and mental health counseling. In A. J. Palmo, E. J. Weikel & D. P. Borsos (Eds.), Foundations of mental health counseling (3rd ed., pp. 393-414). Charles C. Thomas.
Guth, L. J., Lopez, D. F., Rojas, J., Clements, K. D., & Tyler, J. M. (2005). Experiential versus rational training: a comparison of student attitudes towards homosexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 42(2),83-102.
Tyler, C. L. & Tyler, J. M. (2005). Applying the transtheoretical model of change to the sequencing of ethics instruction in business education. Journal of Management Education, 29, 120.
Tyler, J. M. & Sabella, R. (2004). Counseling in the 21st century: achieving technological competence. American Counseling Association.
Tyler, J. M., & Guth, L. J. (2003). Understanding online counseling services through a review of definitions and elements necessary for change. In J. W. Bloom, & G. R. Walz (Eds.), Cybercounseling (pp. 303-317). American Counseling Association.
Daniels, M. H., Tyler, J. M., & Christie, B. S. (2000). On-line instruction in counselor education: possibilities, implications, and guidelines. In J. W. Bloom, & G. R. Walz, (Eds.), Cybercounseling and cyberlearning: Strategies and resources for the millennium (pp. 303-317). American Counseling Association.
Hyun, E., & Tyler, J. M. (2000). Examination of early childhood practitioners’ gender perception of gender differences in young children. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 21, 337-354.
Selected Presentations
Tyler, J. M., & Simons, N. (2013, July). Lean six sigma as a unifying approach to quality in higher education [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
Schram, C., & Tyler, J. M. (2012). The relationship among course and instructor evaluations and an external student satisfaction inventory [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Tyler, C.L., & Tyler, J.M. (2007, June). News you can use: using current events in the classroom [Conference presentation]. Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Malibu, CA, United States.
Tyler, J. M., Tyler, C. L., & Parvin, B. (2007, June). How hanging out in bars can help the grading process [Conference presentation]. Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Malibu, CA, United States.
Tyler, J. M., Parvin, B., & Tyler, C. L. (2007, April). What business can teach academics about assessment: Using behaviorally anchored rating scales in program assessment [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Tyler, C. L., Anderson, M., & Tyler, J. M. (2006, August). Giving students new eyes: Benefits of having students find media clips [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Atlanta, GA, United States.
O’Gorman, D. & Dunn, C. (2005, March) The paradigm shift in higher education: Impact of online degree on institutions with a high percentage of part-time students. In Tyler, J. M. (Discussant), Annual meeting of the Midwest Business Administrations Association, Chicago, IL, United States.
Tyler, C. L., & Houghton, P. (2005, March). Assessment centers: An experiential workshop. In Tyler, J. M. (Chair), Presentation at the annual meeting of the Midwest Business Administrations Association, Chicago, IL, United States.
York, K., Tyler, C. L., Tyler, J. M., & Gugel, P. E. (2005). Of fighting fires and firefighters: Sex discrimination in the workplace forty years after the civil rights act of 1964 [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management, Scottsdale, AZ, United States.
Tyler, J. M., & Daig, B. (2004, November). Part-time faculty in asynchronous learning environments: Understanding their needs and motivations [Conference presentation]. Tenth Sloan-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks, Orlando, FL, United States.
Tyler, J. M., Teahen, J. & Tyler, C. L. (2004, June). Understanding the benefit of interaction and discussion in an online learning environment [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society, Redlands, CA, United States.
Hofler, H. D., Stonebraker, P. W., Afifi, R., & Reynolds, A. L. (2004, March). Task-based versus construct-based assessment of ethical values. In Tyler, J. M. (Discussant). Presentation at the annual meeting of the Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management, Scottsdale, AZ, United States.
Tyler, J. M. (2004, March). Session Chair. Pedagogy: Ethical writing and publishing [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the Midwest Business Administrations Association, Chicago, IL, United States.
Tyler, J. M., & Tyler, C. L. (2004, March). Assessing ethical development using the proposed ethical judgment scale-business (EJS-B) [Conference presentation]. Annual meeting of the Midwest Business Administrations Association, Chicago, IL, United States.
Professional Memberships
- American Psychological Association
Q&A
- Describe your research interests.
I view myself as a very curious person. There are so many things I don’t understand and so much that fascinates me about the world that I have jumped from one opportunity to another throughout my career. I was about 5 years into my career when a mentor pointed out a couple key elements that ran through my work, and still seems cogent today.
One, I am interested in moral decisions and how individuals make those decisions. In some areas this has come out as an interest in philosophy. Elsewhere is looks like an interest in moral development. In professional settings, we think in terms of ethics. All of it is connected by a deep fascination with how decisions are made.
Two, I am very interested in the irrationality of humans (see decision making above). There is tremendous research showing that even when confronted with rational choices that individuals understand, they still often make decisions that appear irrational. One of my favorite explanations of this is Cognitive Experiential Self Theory (CEST). CEST suggests a dual process model of perception that seeks a bridge between traditional ideas associated with psychodynamic models and competing cognitive models. Much of the writing I have done has played off of this and similar models regardless of discipline.
Finally, I view the world through a lens of relationships. Who we are, what we do, and the level of health we achieve is all connected to the relationships we have with the world around us.
My research, in its own way, seeks to make sense of a world where I struggle to understand the decisions of others, I recognize that humans are not fully rational beings, and I think if we are to be healthy, the only path we can choose is to develop and maintain healthy relationships.
- Why did you choose to enter the field of psychology?
My childhood was not particularly remarkable for the time and place I grew up. My family perpetuated its own unique dysfunctions and I internalized that dysfunction in ways that were largely expected, in ways that mimicked my peers, and in ways that maintained homeostasis in the family. Ultimately, that stopped working and I found that drugs and alcohol were a really powerful way to respond. It’s all a little cliché for a child of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
The piece that makes the story a little different is that I found my way out of the delinquent behavior and the substance abuse, as well as the depression and anxiety through a 12-step based program. It was there that I found a family, friends, acceptance and hope for the future. As a young adult I decided that my life could be of importance to others if I could help others change and grow in the ways that others had helped me. The path wasn’t straight and I took detours along the way to experiment with others ways to help my community or those in need, but ultimately I came to see that meaning in one’s life is created by what we do and how we live, and I determined the meaning of my life was inextricably bound to helping others live their lives in a more healthy and productive manner.
- What advice would you give to a student entering The Michigan School of Psychology?
Graduate school is tough, and it should be. When you are done with graduate school you will be among an elite group of individuals that possess a graduate degree. By choosing to go to graduate school, you are choosing to set yourself apart, to declare to the world that you are something special and that you have something unique to contribute. You are making a commitment to the professional community that you are entering. More importantly, you are asking every client you will interact with in the future to allow you the privilege of being a partner in their life at what may be their most difficult moments. By choosing this profession, you are making a promise. That is an important and consequential step.
In many jobs, if we “phone it in” somedays, the consequences are not great. Productivity may decline and the company may not make quite the same profit. Maybe a customer has a bad experience and they leave grouchy. In our profession, a bad day has real world consequences that can last a lifetime. Who we are, what we know, and how we engage matters every single time.
My advice to anyone entering graduate school in psychology is to recognize the importance of the agreement you are making with your future clients, and then commit to making your time in graduate school the most productive educational experience of your life. Make graduate school a priority- your clients deserve that. It may mean that for a year or two while you are here at MSP something else slips. No one can do it all. NO ONE. So we prioritize. For you to be truly gifted in your work with clients, you need a foundation that is absolutely second to none. Understand that your commitment to graduate school is the commitment to caring for everyone you will work with in the future and then engage in graduate school in a manner that demonstrates the privilege you have to be a mental health professional.
