JULY Alumni Spotlight: Lisa Colangelo Fischer, Ph.D., Xavier College Preparatory, 1988
Background: I am a third generation native of Arizona and share a “birthday” with the Diocese of Phoenix. I was born with profound sensorineural hearing loss and wore my first hearing aids as a 5-month-old infant. I began speech therapy lessons a month later which continued for the next 14 years. My family has a strong Catholic education background and this partly influenced me in wanting to attend Catholic schools as well. Despite skepticism from my public school special education teacher, I insisted on attending Xavier College Preparatory. At Xavier, I participated in the golf and track teams and served on the student council. I received an excellent education at Xavier and went on to college after graduation. I am happily married to Ed Fischer for 27 years this coming October and have two wonderful children, Grae age 19 who is also a Xavier alumna and Michael age 17 who is a rising senior at Brophy College Preparatory.
What impact did Catholic schools have on you? While at Xavier, my teachers had expectations of me like any regular student where I was to excel with my classmates, using the same GPA system, same classroom instruction, same activities, etc. No special accommodations were made for me. I did not want to be treated differently and therefore, wasn’t. I was integrated as part of Xavier and its student body. Xavier creates women leaders who give back to our community using our God-given gifts. This had a lasting impact on me to be a productive member of today’s society, using my talents. My experience at Xavier was a positive one which motivated me to want other students with similar disabilities to also experience being a Catholic school student and receive its excellent education in faith. This led me to establish The Matthew 19:14 Project (formerly known as the Arizona Catholic Schools Disabilities Fund). The mission of this fund is to provide Arizona Catholic schools with the resources and support for the success of students with special needs because a Catholic education should be accessible to all children. To learn more about The Matthew 19:14 Project, please go to: www.Matthew1914Project.org
Accomplishments: After graduating from Xavier, I attended the University of Arizona and majored in Psychology with a minor emphasis in Special Education and Rehabilitation. I then earned a master’s degree in Counseling and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, both from Arizona State University. I completed a predoctoral internship at Northwestern University and a postdoctoral residency at Maricopa Medical Center. My master’s thesis was published in a popular psychological research journal and continues to be cited 20+ years later in multiple languages. As a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist, I am a faculty member with the Department of Psychiatry at Creighton University Phoenix’s new medical school. At the same time, I maintain a private clinical psychotherapy practice. I serve on two bishop-appointed Diocesan boards as a psychological consultant in addition to being President of the Arizona Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Current and future activities: The activities I enjoy are archery and bowhunting, baking cookies, and spending time in my cabin in the White Mountains. As a founder and proud head coach of Brophy’s successful archery program, I will be preparing the team to defend its state championship title in March 2022. Go Broncos! If you go to LifeBoat Coffee Company, be sure to enjoy the delicious iced sugar cookies that I bake on a monthly basis for the shop to contribute towards the Catholic causes it supports.
At the 2020 Xavier graduation. From left to right: Lisa, Michael, Grae, and Ed Fischer.
