# Joseph G. Ponterotto

Joseph G. Ponterotto is an American psychologist, author, and professor. He is currently a coordinator of the Mental Health Counseling Program at Fordham University's Graduate School of Education. He is a licensed psychologist and mental health counselor, as well as a psychobiographer and multicultural consultant. His research interests include multicultural counseling, education, and psychobiography.
Ponterotto's psychobiography of chess champion Bobby Fischer served as the foundation for the 2015 film Pawn Sacrifice.
Joseph Ponterotto is a licensed psychologist and mental health counselor in New York State and is the former associate editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology. He currently coordinates the mental health counseling master's degree program at Fordham University.

## Biography

Joseph G. Ponterotto was born and raised in Bronx, New York. He entered Iona College in New Rochelle, New York in 1976 and attained a bachelor's degree (B.A.) in Psychology in 1980. Soon after, he entered the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He started in the Master's program for the first year and then met his mentor, Dr. Jesus Manuel Casas, who recommended that he transition into the doctoral program. Ponterotto credits Casas for inspiring his interest in multicultural research and social advocacy. From September 1981 until his graduation in May 1985, he was part of a team with his mentor who conducted research in the Chicano Community. During this time, Ponterotto and Casas engaged in discussions on their life experiences and concepts such as unearned privilege, culture, oppression, and injustice. He learned how to reflect on his own heritage and bilingualism and how this ties into elements of life, like identity development and professionalism. Dr. Casas chaired Ponterotto's Doctoral dissertation, "The Effects of Select Parental Variables, Cognitive Home Stimulation, and Teacher-Child Interactive Behavior on the Academic Performance of Low-Income Mexican American Children".
Ponterotto credits minority scholars in multicultural research, including Thomas Parham, Janet Helms, William Cross, Derald Wing Sue, and Casas, for sustaining his commitment and self-confidence as a graduate student and new professional in the field.
Ponterotto also acknowledges his faculty colleagues and students at Fordham University for their roles in the evolution of his professional career, particularly his interest in qualitative research and how it can inform multicultural counseling. Since his arrival in 1987, Dr. Ponterotto has cited Fordham leaders such as Leo Goldman and Merle Keitel for creating an academic environment that emphasized qualitative research. He also thanks his students for shedding light on how these methods can be administered to thoroughly learn about a specific multicultural population while also generating a sense of social justice that honors and benefits the research participants as well as advancing science.

## Career

From 1985 until 1987, Ponterotto held the position of assistant professor in Counseling Psychology within the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 1987, he joined Fordham University's Graduate School of Education as an assistant professor of Counseling Psychology in the Division of Psychological and Educational Services (PES). Over the years at Fordham, he was promoted to Associate and then Full Professor and has held several administrative positions. Presently, he coordinates the master's degree program in Mental Health Counseling.
Ponterotto teaches master's and doctoral students from a range of programs, such as school psychology, clinical psychology, mental health counseling, school counseling, and counseling psychology. He regularly teaches courses in multicultural counseling, psychological measurement and assessment, career counseling, quantitative/qualitative research methods, and the history of psychology.

## Counseling and supervision

Ponterotto's professional work as a clinician started in 1981 when he saw his first clients while a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1984 he attained the position of Clinic Coordinator and Supervisor of the Counseling Psychology Training Clinic at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1985, he became a counselor and supervisor at the Educational Psychology Training Clinic for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and was later promoted to Director from 1986 to 1987. In 2008, he opened his own small psychotherapy practice in New York City, where he specializes in examining the impact of different social-cultural contexts on the individual person, families, and career development. He also helps clients (e.g., chess prodigies) pursue their talents while also managing aspects of everyday life.

## Awards and honors

Ponterotto has received university-based, national, and international awards and honors. In 1994, he was a co-winner of the "Early Career Scientist/Practitioner Award," given by APA's Division 17. As a faculty member, he has received the Distinguished Contribution to Multicultural Education Award (1997-1998) and the Scanlon Award (2003) from the Graduate School of Education. In 2007, he earned the Bene Merenti Award for 20 years of service at Fordham University. That same year he received the honor of "Distinguished Alumnus-Research and Scholarship" by the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition, he was presented the "Visionary Leadership Award" at the APA National Multicultural Conference and Summit in Seattle, Washington. He also received the 17th Annual Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship from Teachers College, Columbia University at the 24th Winter Roundtable on Cultural Psychology and Education.

## Research contributions

Ponterotto has served on editorial boards for scholarly journals and book publishers and is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology.
Ponterotto has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. His research interests include acculturation, racism, immigration, multicultural counseling and education, and qualitative/quantitative research methods.
Ponterotto emphasizes that qualitative inquiry approaches such as interviews with participants and their families are imperative for research, practice, training, empowering, and honoring different ethnicities, races, cultures, and their respective beliefs, values, and traditions. This view is evident within his most cited article "Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology: A Primer on Research Paradigms and Philosophy of Science." Published in 2005, this article presented an overview of research paradigms used by psychologists in theory and practice and specifically urges that qualitative methods and other research alternatives be taken into account to effectively train future students.
Ponterotto is known for developing and advocating for measures or scales (e.g., survey instruments) that are sensitive to cultural and ethnic differences to ensure that any research conducted or treatment initiatives are valid, appropriate, and inclusive. He is a co-developer of the Quick Discrimination Index, the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey, the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale, and the Multicultural Personality Inventory. These measures are used worldwide.

## Books

* The Psychobiographer's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Research and Ethics. (2024)
* A Psychobiography of Bobby Fisher: Understanding the Genius, Mystery, and Psychological Decline of a World Chess Champion. (2012)
* A Psychobiography of John F. Kennedy Jr.: Understanding his inner Life, Achievements, Struggles, and Courage. (2018)
His 2012 book is based on four years of research that included interviews with surviving family members, friends, chess masters, journalists, and biographers who knew Fischer, as well as reviews of archives and available FBI files related to the Fischer family. Based on piecing together this data, he was able to draw conclusions that highlight Fischer's intelligence and mental health challenges. Ponterotto's psychobiography gained the attention of the producers of the 2015 major motion picture Pawn Sacrifice, for which he served as a historical consultant.