Derek McNeil, PhD

Dr. J. Derek McNeil was named the fourth president of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology in 2019. Since joining the leadership team at The Seattle School in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. McNeil has been integral to our achievement of regional accreditation, the reimagining of our common curriculum, and securing millions in grant funding.

Dr. McNeil has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University and an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary. Prior to his tenure at The Seattle School, Dr. McNeil served as faculty in the PsyD program at Wheaton College Graduate School for over 15 years.

Dr. McNeil has worked as a clinician in private practice, a diversity advisor, an organizational consultant, and an administrator. His research, writing, and speaking have focused on issues of ethnic and racial socialization, the role of forgiveness in peacemaking, the identity development of African-American males, leadership in living systems, and resilience. He has written chapters in The Black Family: Past, Present, and Future (1991), Men to Men: Voices of African American Males (1996), Why Psychology Needs Theology (2005), This Side of Heaven: Race Ethnicity and Christian Faith (2007), Reluctant Integration (2010), and Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness and Justice (2016). His teaching has also included coursework on Social, Cultural, and Spiritual Foundations of Mental Health; Family Systems Therapy; Group Theory; Therapy; and Leadership.