Embracing unexpected possibilities

By Stella Katsipoutis-Varkanis

Dwayne Norris ’89 stands with former roommate and quarterback Frank Baur ’90 near the leopard statue. “We stood in the same place, in uniforms, as co-captains our senior year,” explains Norris.

Dwayne Norris ’89 arrived at Lafayette College in 1985 unsure of where his path would lead him, but wholeheartedly optimistic he would find his calling. He was the youngest of four siblings, raised in a military household where his father and older brothers served in the U.S. Navy. A strong student and talented athlete, Norris knew joining the service wasn’t for him—and following a more traditional path was the key to unlocking his own self-discovery. “I wanted an education, and I knew Lafayette would open up doors,” Norris says. “I just didn’t know where those doors would lead.”

Just over 40 years later, that chosen route has led Norris far beyond what he could have imagined as an 18-year-old. As the current chief people officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific research, engineering, and technology—Norris leads the organization’s human resources department, working to build a professional environment where both employees and science can thrive.

Getting there, he says, was the result of opportunity, trial and error, relationship building, and a little bit of serendipity during his undergrad years. While he initially enrolled as an engineering major at Lafayette, Norris realized during his first year the major didn’t align with his interests. So, he seized the moment as a chance to explore.

“I really leaned into Lafayette’s liberal arts side, and I started taking a lot of different courses,” Norris says. “One of the courses I took was an industrial/organizational psychology course with Andrew Vinchur, which combined my interests in statistics, human behavior, and business. After observing my work and noticing my enthusiasm for it, he asked me if I had ever thought of getting an advanced degree in the field. And this put everything together for me.”

That conversation ultimately led Norris to graduate school and a Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology. Earlier in his career, he had a 30-year run in various roles at the American Institutes for Research, where he worked closely with leadership teams and human resources departments at numerous organizations, agencies, and associations on issues of workplace performance before eventually landing at AAAS.

Since he was recruited by AAAS three years ago, Norris has been working to rebuild and reposition the HR function as a strategic partner to the organization. His main focus is on organizational culture, workforce planning, manager development, and preparing employees for a rapidly changing workplace shaped by hybrid work, artificial intelligence, and shifting attitudes toward science. What he loves most about his current role is the opportunity to work directly with his team to develop and empower employees, while championing science and its global impact. “I just want the place to be better when I’m done here,” Norris says. “But you can only do so much as an individual. If you can make the people around you better, then you can have an even greater impact.”

Dwayne Norris ’89 (right) and Frank Baur ’90 (left) walk on the field during their last game against Lehigh in 1989.

Some of Norris’ earliest lessons on teamwork and leadership, he says, began on the football field during his time as a Leopard. “Training for Division I sports is year-round and very time consuming, and juggling that with coursework is hard. The pressure to do well in the classroom and on the field brought me and my teammates together and served us well,” he explains. “Your team becomes your core group, and you learn how to support each other, bounce back from hardships, and work toward common goals. I still carry those deep lessons with me today.”

Norris says he’s most grateful for the diversity of experiences and people he was exposed to at the College. “Lafayette was the foundation I built on. And when I left, my world got bigger and bigger, but it wasn’t so daunting because I was able to take those experiences with me.”

And as someone who began his journey at Lafayette not knowing where it would lead, Norris encourages all Lafayette students to embrace uncertainty and delve into as many varied experiences as possible. “Try everything you can try,” he says. “You might not be able to connect all the dots between your experience now and where you’ll be in 15 years, but what you do now matters. Immerse yourself in it.”