Pierz, MN Psychologist Frank Weber Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Frank Weber with his 2024 Susan T. Rydell Award Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Psychology (contributed photo)

The Minnesota Psychological Association has awarded Frank Weber of Pierz, Minnesota the Susan T. Rydell Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Psychology.

Weber has dedicated his life to psychology. He began teaching college psychology courses at 25 years old and has been a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide, sexual assault, and domestic abuse. This has earned him the Minnesota Psychological Association’s Susan T. Rydell Lifetime Achievement Award. What he’s most proud of is CORE Professional Services, which he started with his wife 29 years ago.

“At the time we started it, people said, ‘You’re crazy to start a mental health clinic,’ that you’re never going to make it,” said Weber. “And especially starting a clinic that was helping people that were coming out of incarceration and needed guidance. It was a risk, but I wanted to do something to make the world better.”

Working with individuals who spent time in prison, the program CORE runs is centered on accountability, and the ultimate goal is to ensure their graduates never go back to jail.

“From the very beginning, we’ve taken a look at our graduates and what has happened in their lives afterwards,” Weber explained. “And so after 29 years at this point, we found 97% of our graduates were never convicted of an offense again.”

Upon receiving the news he won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Weber was humbled to be chosen.

“It was an honor,” he said. ” They only give one award a year in the entire state of Minnesota. So it was a very big deal to receive this award, and there’s a lot of psychologists and a lot of programs. So it was very exciting.”

Over the years, as a way to vent from his work, Weber began to write murder mystery novels. For over a decade, he kept the stories to himself before finally seeking a publisher’s opinion.

“Finally, I thought, ‘I feel like I’m getting pretty good at this.’ And then you start wondering, is it just self-delusion? Because I haven’t shared it with anybody,” Weber said. “And I decided I need to send one to a publisher and they can give me whatever thoughts they want. I send it to a publisher and they contact me and said, ‘This is going to sell, you’ve got to start on a sequel.’ So I do one book a year.”

Weber has won several awards for his novels. To discuss his newest novel, as well as the latest in forensic tools, Weber will be at Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter on Saturday, April 27th from 3 PM to 8 PM.