Dwight Harshbarger is perhaps best known for his work in psychology, including a seven-year tenure as the Executive Director of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, but it was his first fiction work, In the Heart in the Hills: A Novel in Stories, that earned him a spot in West Virginia's literary community. He recently completed his second novel, Witness at Hawks Nest. The historical fiction novel tells the tragic story of America's worst, yet least known, industrial disaster. Advance reviewers have given it high praise.

Dwight is a native of Milton, West Virginia, a small town in Cabell County. He attended West Virginia University, earning both an AB and an MA. He continued his education at both University of California-Berkley and the University of North Dakota, completing a Ph.D. there. Dwight then spent time at Harvard University in post-graduate study before returning to West Virginia to join the faculty of West Virginia University, eventually becoming a tenured professor of psychology.

In addition to his time in higher education, Dwight has also worked in the corporate sector, specializing in strengthening quality and safety performance in organizations. His interests led to leadership roles in corporate human resources, as a senior vice president for Reebok International and vice president of Sealy, Inc. In addition, he served as a consultant for RHR International's Chicago office and then continued his corporate career as director of strategic consulting and vice president of Aubrey Daniels International. Since that time, he has also established his own consulting firm, The Browns Group, and has worked with numerous international corporations to implement successful behavior-based performance improvement programs in the United States and Asia.

Most recently, Dwight served as the Executive Director of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He remains a Senior Fellow of the Center. He has written extensively on organizational performance and edited the works of others in the field as well. His work in behavioral sciences has earned him the respect and acknowledgement of his peers; he is an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. In 2006, he was honored by the Psychology department of the University of North Dakota with their Outstanding Alumni Award.

Dwight published his first fiction work in 2005. In the Heart of the Hills: A Novel in Stories is a series of inter-connected short stories that capture life in post-World War II America, focusing on a boy and a small West Virginia town, both of them struggling with post-WW II changes in America and cataclysmic events around the globe. In 2007 the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences brought Dwight to WVU as a Distinguished Visitor to give a reading from In the Heart of the Hills.

Following his retirement from the Cambridge Center in 2008, Dwight returned to Morgantown, West Virginia, to focus on his fiction writing and to teach. He serves as Adjunct Professor of Community Medicine in the WVU Health Sciences Center.

He is among the West Virginia authors honored by the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Read more about Dwight's work at www.kettlestories.com

© 2009 Dwight Harshbarger Design: Grimes Grafix