Lewis Bonney, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of School Counseling and School Psychology
Lewis Bonney’s career arc spans clinical, consulting, and personnel psychology, as well as appointments in academic and research positions. Following an undergraduate degree in psychology from UC Berkeley, he earned a master’s in clinical psychology at the University of North Texas. He was appointed clinical psychologist in the U.S. Navy and assigned to the Pearl Harbor Mental Health Outpatient Clinic from 1964-67. In the Navy, he provided clinical services for active-duty personnel and dependents, including appraisal of psychological risk factors in people pending deployment to unusually high-risk assignments. He was subsequently employed as supervisor of counseling for a Ford Motor pilot project to recruit, train, and place hardcore unemployed people in Philadelphia from 1967-68.
While pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Arizona from 1968-70, he won a U.S. Department of Education research grant to test the portability of cognitive skills, replicating his dissertation project and resulting in appointment as assistant to the superintendent for project management and development in a large urban school district in San Bernardino from 1970-77. He was later self-employed as a consultant to 10 California county governments assessing the effectiveness of mental health programs from 1977-88, concurrently serving as an expert witness in child custody litigation from 1977-99 and beginning a clinical practice in appraising psychological risk factors in aspirants for careers in ministry. In 2000, he landed at Azusa Pacific University with an appointment as a professor in the School of Education.
At Azusa Pacific, he taught assessment and research courses and co-led representatives from six academic disciplines in providing Clergy Care Day, an outreach to local clergy in the areas of business, physical, mental, and spiritual wellness. For seven years he chaired the Institutional Review Board, charged with the ethical review of social science research projects. His research interests were in tacit knowledge of leadership and mindfulness for school leaders, leading to publications and presentations at national and international forums. In 2024, he retired from APU to continue his work appraising psychological risk factors in aspirants for ministry careers.
Lewis is a recreational triathlete and has held volunteer leadership positions at the parish, commission, and diocesan levels in the Episcopal Church.
Education
- PhD, Educational Psychology, University of Arizona
- MA, Clinical Psychology, University of North Texas
- BA, Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
Credentials/Certifications
- Licensed Psychologist, California Board of Psychology
Academic Area
- School of Education
Expertise
- California Council for Teacher Credentialing
- California Board of Psychology Pupil Personnel Services Credential
Courses Taught
- EDCO 592 – Foundations and Ethics in Research
- EDPY 636 – Research and Evaluation in School Psychology
- EDPY 683 – Psychoeducational Assessment III
- EDPY 690 – Advanced Individual Research