Tod Sloan

Department Chair and Professor of Counseling Psychology

department: Counseling Psychology
office: 335 Rogers Hall
phone: 503-768-6066
e-mail: sloan@lclark.edu

Professional Biography

Tod Sloan was trained in personality theory, counseling, and psychotherapy at the University of Michigan. He taught psychology at the University of Tulsa from 1982 to 2001, where he founded the Center for Community Research and Development in 1998 and served as department chair from 1999 to 2001. He joined Lewis and Clark’s Graduate School of Education as Professor and Chair of the Department of Counseling Psychology in 2004.

Sloan is the author of two books: Life Choices: Understanding Dilemmas and Decisions and Damaged Life: The Crisis of the Modern Psyche. In these books, he develops a psychodynamic perspective on ideological processes in personal decisions and social relations. In particular, he focuses on lifestyles issues related to consumerism, citizenship, and intimacy as well as on the psychosocial conditions for sustainable development and deeper democracy.

As an advocate for a perspective known as critical psychology, with special concerns about the possible negative effects of scientistic psychology on societal development both in postmodern society and in the global South, he has been working with colleagues to develop relevant participatory modes of psychosocial practice. He edited Critical Psychology: Voices for Change, a collection of reflections by critical psychologists on the relations between psychology and social change.

Sloan is fluent in Spanish and has been a visiting professor in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica and has taught seminars in Brasil, Mexico, and Canada. Fruits of this work include a volume of the Journal of Social Issues on “Psychology for the Third World,” co-edited with Maritza Montero; and Psychology and Poverty: From Global Perspective to Local Practice, co-edited with Stuart Carr.

At Lewis and Clark, Sloan teaches seminars on the social context of counseling, dialogue practices, social theory, community consultation, and critical psychology. His current scholarship involves developing systems to support activists and change agents in grassroots ecological and social justice organizations. See A Circle Group: Activist HR Network

From 2001 to 2004, Sloan served as the national co-coordinator for Psychologists for Social Responsibility, an advocacy organization that mobilizes and equips psychologists for peacebuilding and social justice work.