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- Lisa Ha - Class of 2004.
Alumni Profile
Lisa N. Ha
(Class of 2004)
Lisa N. Ha, originally a D.C. native, currently works as program manager for Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, a non-profit agency seeking to revitalize the downtown area. Through this organization, Lisa is working on programs to not only improve the aesthetics of downtown Harrisonburg, but also to strengthen the economic core of the area, attract new businesses, offer special events to the public, and more (www.downtownharrisonburg.org). Through a partnership between HDR and the City of Harrisonburg, Lisa also serves as the manager of Downtown Parking Services, a division of the City’s Economic Development Department. In that role she is working to improve parking in the downtown area, making changes that take
into account the needs of visitors, employees, and residents, and hopefully encourage more people to come downtown.
Reading a description of Lisa’s position, you might not think that her job has anything to do with her Psychology degree, but as she describes it, her job has everything to do with Psychology! Lisa is responsible for balancing the differing needs of everyone who participates in the downtown district, whether they are only downtown for an hour to shop or have owned a business downtown for twenty years. This involves encouraging a cooperative climate between the persons and groups involved in downtown revitalization, and sometimes conflict resolution. Lisa believes that listening to people in the community is the best way to find ways to rejuvenate the city’s core. To accomplish this, Lisa takes a systematic approach, conducting user opinion surveys, focus groups, and other research methods to understand the dynamics of people using the downtown area. She then uses her data to recommend solutions and improvements. Her work is in many ways similar to the work by psychologists conducting applied research.
Lisa’s internship experience at the Community Mediation Center in Harrisonburg and research experience as a JMU Psychology Major in Psyc 210, Psyc 211, independent studies and senior thesis, were key experiences that helped her secure her current position. At the Community Mediation Center, Lisa worked as a volunteer case manager, helping people reach solutions to their conflicts outside of court. She completed her senior honors thesis on “Social Attitudes in Social Change: A Survey of Vietnamese Youths in the Doi Moi Era.” Under the guidance of Dr. Craig Abrahamson, Lisa traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to conduct focus groups with adolescents and young adults to survey their attitudes towards various social issues in the context of a rapidly changing economic environment, specifically, the elderly, mental health and domestic violence. In many ways, Lisa’s current job requires a similar kind of process here in the rapidly developing Harrisonburg area.
In addition to working full-time, Lisa also hopes to attend graduate school in either Psychology or Business. Her advice to JMU students is to get internship or field placement experience so you can apply your classroom learning to a work setting. She also recommends that students volunteer in the community to make a difference in the lives of others. She invites students to email her at lisah@ci.harrisonburg.va.us.
