Personal Statement

In my teaching, I attempt to create collaborative learning communities where learners can act as critical thinkers, value their own voices, see themselves as knowledge creators, and engage in dialogues of difference. I encourage participants in the learning process to become aware of the origins of their world views in ways that empower them to consider their preferred assumptions within a framework of power, privilege and liberation.

Brief Professional Biography

Teresa McDowell is a professor and chair of the Department of Counseling Psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Counseling at Lewis & Clark College. She is also the co-director of Lewis & Clark Problem Gambling Services.  Teresa has spent much of her career working to revision marriage and family therapy education in ways that better support social equity and cultural democracy. Her scholarship has focused on issues of race and social class in family therapy practice and education, critical multicultural family research, and internationalizing family therapy programs. Recently her research agenda has included expanding critical multiculturalism in family therapy to include an international focus that addresses disparity and promotes global citizenship. She is a long time clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor.

Prior to coming to Lewis & Clark College, Teresa taught at the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs, CT. While there, she served as Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral and Master’s programs. Teresa also taught family therapy at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma WA and at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, IL. She has directed university family therapy clinics at NIU, PLU, and UConn. Originally from Arizona, Teresa has spent most of her adult life in Washington State.

Curriculum Vitae

Recent Projects

Teresa’s current and recent projects include investigating queering family therapy education; problem gambling and the family; the influences of social class in family therapy education; White privilege and racial equity; and co-creating family therapy knowledge across cultural contexts. She has collaborated for the last five years with colleagues from rural Uganda and Lewis & Clark, resulting in opportunities for family therapy and counseling students in both countries to cross-train in family work. 

Recent  Publications 

Hernandez-Wolfe, P. & McDowell, T. (2013). Social privilege and accountability:Lessons from family therapy educators. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 25(1), 1-16..

McDowell, T., Melendez, T., Althusius, E., Hergic, S., Sleeman, G., Ton, N.,   Zimpfer-Bak, A. (2013).  Exploring social class: Voices of inter-class couples.  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39(1), 59-71.

McDowell, T., Brown, A, Cullen, N. & Duyn, A. (2013). Social class and family therapy education: Experiences of low SES students. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39(1), 72-86.

McDowell, T., Melendez, T., and Goessling, K. (2012).  Transformative learning through international immersion: Building multicultural competence in family Therapy and counseling.  Journal  of Marital and Family Therapy.

McDowell, T., Fang, S., Griggs, J., and Kositic, I. (2012). Centering the voices of international students in family studies and family therapy graduate programs, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.

Zyrenchick, K., and McDowell, T. (2012). Class and classism in family therpy praxis: A feminist, neo-Marxist approach.  Journal of Feminist Family Therapy.

Hernandez-Wolfe, P. & McDowell, T. (2012). Speaking of privilege: Family therapy educator’s journeys toward awareness, accountability & action.  Family Process.

McDowell, T, Brown, A., Kabura, P., Parker, E. & Alotaiby, A. (2011).  Working with families in Uganda and the United States: Lessons in cross-cultural professional training.  Journal of Systemic Therapies, 30(2), 65-80.

McDowell, T. & Hernandez, P. (2010).  Decolonizing academia: Intersectionality, participation, and accountabililty in family therapy and counseling. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 22,( 2), 93-111.

Garcia, M. & McDowell, T. (2010).  Mapping social capital: A critical contextual approach for working with low-status families.  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 36(1), 96-107.

Selected Professional Activities

Clinical Member & Approved Supervisor, American Association for Marital and Family Therapy (AAMFT)

Editorial Board, Journal of Marital & Family Therapy

Editorial Board, Journal of Systemic Therapies

Editorial Board, Journal of Feminist Family Therapies

Academic Credentials

Ed.D. 2003 Northern Illinois University

M.A. 1985 Pacific Lutheran University

Washington State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, #LF00001571