The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Stephen T. Fife, Ph.D., as the 2021 recipient of the Kathleen Briggs Outstanding Mentor Award, which recognizes an outstanding mentor of students and new professionals in the area of marriage and family therapy.

This award is given in honor of Kathleen Briggs, a long-time Family Therapy Section member and leader. She was committed to mentoring marriage and family therapy graduate students and new professionals. Dr. Briggs was well-known and respected for her leadership, insight, optimism, enthusiasm, and mentoring.

Dr. Fife is an associate professor and program director of the couple, marriage, and family therapy program at Texas Tech University. He has a master's degree in psychology and a doctorate in marriage and family therapy and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. His research interests center on couples therapy, the treatment and healing of infidelity, and common factors of change. He co-authored two books on couple therapy and is the co-developer of an innovative meta-model of psychotherapy called the therapeutic pyramid. He has published and presented his research nationally and internationally and is very active mentoring graduate students – especially in qualitative research. He is happily married and is the father of two sons. He loves the outdoors, and when not busy with family or work, you will probably find him dreaming about fly fishing.

Dr. Fife was recognized for his achievement during the Awards Ceremony at the 2021 NCFR Annual Conference. Watch the video above to learn more about Dr. Fife and this award. 

The National Council on Family Relations is the premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of nearly 3,000 family researchers, practitioners and educators. For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, visit the NCFR website at ncfr.org.