Dr. Stephen Cookis Dean of the Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Counseling at Hardin-Simmons University. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in Introductory Psychology (PSYC 1301), Health Psychology (PSYC 3318), and Personality (PSYC 4310).

At the national level, Dr. Cook served as Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair, Special Interest Groups Coordinator, and Executive Board Member for the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association, or APA), and as an Executive Committee Member for the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (APA’s Division 36). He served as a board member for the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs and was actively involved with the Association of Psychology Training Clinics. He served as co-editor of the historical forum for the official journal of APA Division 17,The Counseling Psychologist. He also served terms on APA’s Continuing Education and Convention Programming Committees.

Closer to home, he directed the Counseling Psychology doctoral program and the Psychology Clinic at Texas Tech University (TTU), where he also served as social sciences representative on TTU’s Graduate Council. He served on the Board of Trustees for the Texas Psychological Association, where he also chaired the Academic and Higher Education Committee and the Sequence of Supervision for Licensure Task Force.

Dr. Cook has three primary research areas: (1) examining religious/spiritual issues, especially in terms of the associations between religiousness/spirituality and both physical and mental health, (2) investigating how people cope with stressful events and personal problems, and (3) exploring the influence of gender issues on psychosocial functioning. He is a licensed psychologist and provided psychological services in the community for more than 20 years.

Dr. Cook was born and raised in Abilene, Texas, where he met his wife, Nancy, when he was in 9th grade. They have two children, Andrew and Laura, and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Beau and Rudy. He once ate ice cream at a table next to Mick Jagger in Rome’s Piazza Nuvona and performed in Swan Lake with the Houston Ballet.