Paul Lorton, Jr.

Paul Lorton Jr, a retired professor of Information Systems and Technology, is a highly regarded visionary educator with a truly dynamic range of research interests. These include the use of computers in instruction, industrial changes, the history of commerce, open funding of the opera, and implications of support for the performing arts.

Having earned both his PhD and MA in Education Psychology, Professor Lorton fuses his understanding of learning systems with his extensive work in technology. He designed and spearheaded popular undergraduate courses in systems analysis, quantitative business analysis, and database management. Given his own diverse application of systems knowledge, his hopes are that students engaged with his teachings in accordance with their own personal interests, helping them achieve synergy, meaning and satisfaction in their academic and professional lives.

Lorton continues to find time for the arts, serving as Property Master of the San Francisco Lyric Opera, managing and performing technical support for major productions such as Carmen, Tosca, and Romeo and Juliet. He also serves as a consultant for the San Francisco Unified School District, advising in the areas of technology use, evaluation and assessment, database management systems. He researches effective school evaluations, electronic paperwork flow and school site processes.

Lorton regularly presents his research at a number of distinguished academic conferences, including the prestigious AEA Annual Conference in Toronto. He has been with USF since 1973 and retired in 2018.

• PhD, Education Psychology, Stanford University, CA, 1973
• MS, Education Psychology, Ohio State University, OH, 1964
• BS, Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, CA, 1961

• Web Master, American Evaluation Association, Qualitative Methods TIG
• Consultant, San Francisco Unified School District

• Member, Board of Directors, San Francisco Lyric Opera, 2007–present

• Member, Board of Directors, Pocket Opera, 2009–present