Pamela Cooper-White Called as Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling

The Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of Pamela Cooper-White as professor of pastoral theology, care and counseling. She will begin teaching at Columbia in July.

            Dr. Cooper-White is currently professor of pastoral theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and recipient of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors’ 2005 national “Distinguished Achievement in Research and Writing” award. She holds two Ph.D.s, from Harvard University and from the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago, and is the author of four books, Many Voices: Pastoral Psychotherapy and Theology in Relational Perspective (Fortress, 2006); Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Fortress, 2004); The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church’s Response (Fortress, 1995), which won the 1995 Top Ten Books award from the Academy of Parish Clergy; and Schoenberg and the God-Idea: The Opera Moses and Aron (UMI Research Press, 1985). She also has authored a small-group resource book titled Women Healing and Empowering, which was commissioned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2000. In addition, she is the author of numerous chapters and articles on pastoral theology, women’s development, and pastoral care of post-traumatic stress. Previously, she served as director of the Center of Women and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union. An Episcopal priest and pastoral psychotherapist, Dr. Cooper-White is a Clinical Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, a National Board Certified Counselor (NBCC), and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC, Illinois). She is also co-chair of the Person, Culture, and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion, and is co-editor of the Journal of Pastoral Theology. She has served in congregations in Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Pennsylvania.