Orlo C. Strunk, Jr., Ph.D.

Orlo completed his undergraduate degree at West Virginia Wesleyan College with majors in philosophy and in biblical literature, and two minors, one in economics and one in psychology. Following graduation, he was accepted at Boston University School of Theology where he completed a three-year professional degree and was ordained as a minister in the United Methodist Church. Two years later, he received his Ph.D. in psychology and pastoral counseling. While doing graduate work, he served as the part-time Executive Secretary of the Institute of Pastoral Care, an educational and clinical organization providing clinical pastoral education in general and mental hospitals.

Invited to return to his undergraduate alma mater as an associate professor of psychology, he remained there teaching psychology for three years before being appointed Dean of the College and Professor of Psychology.

After a nine-year deanship, he was called to return to Boston University as Professor of Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Psychology. Besides his academic assignment in the School of Theology and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, he served as a Clinical Supervisor at the Danielsen Institute, a university mental health center providing internships for doctoral candidates in pastoral counseling, counseling psychology, and clinical psychology. He also served as a part-time staff psychologist at Ecumenical Counseling Services, a private clinic providing personal counseling and career counseling to Roman Catholic priests and Sisters, Episcopal priests and nuns, and Protestant clergy. Also during the sixteen-years at BU, he served as the Book Review Editor of The Journal of Pastoral Care . During this period he authored or edited eight books in the religion/spirituality/psychology interfaces and became the Managing Editor of The Journal of Pastoral Care (subsequently The Journal of Pastoral Care Publications, Inc).

Electing early retirement and becoming an Emeritus Professor at Boston University, he and his spouse moved south establishing a residence in Calabash, North Carolina, where he continues to edit The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, and to teach as an Adjunct Professor at Webster University in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He continues to write as well, his most recent publications being two novels, Three-Two Count and An Ever-Fixed Mark (PublishAmerica, 2005, 2007). Until 2003, he served as a part-time psychotherapist at The Coastal Samaritan Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Orlo is a Fellow (ret.) in the American Psychological Association (Division of Psychotherapy, Division of the History of Psychology, and the Division of the Psychology of Religion); Fellow (ret.) in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors; a Diplomate (ret.) in the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy; and a Registrant (ret.) in the National Registry of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Until 2005, he held a license as a psychologist in Massachusetts. Presently he is licensed as a Professional Counselor in South Carolina and as a Supervisor (ret.) of Professional Counselors in South Carolina.

In terms of philosophical, professional, and theoretical orientations, he is steeped in personalistic philosophy, in existential and psychodynamic theories, and in the cognitive/behavioral approaches.