Moyer Hall - Room 220

Muhlenberg College

Allentown, PA 18104

484.664.3421

Fax: 484.664.5627

Alan Tjeltveit, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology

(B.A., St. Olaf College, M.A., Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary)

I teach Psychotherapy and Counseling, Abnormal Psychology, Introductory Psychology, History of Psychology, and Clinical Research.

I grew up in Red Lodge, Montana , a small town in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. I attended St. Olaf College, a small liberal arts college in Minnesota, where I double-majored in psychology and religion and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I also studied in Egypt, India, Taiwan, and Japan. After spending a year working on a psychiatric unit, I moved to southern California to begin graduate school at a church-related university, Fuller Theological Seminary. 

I studied both clinical psychology and theology, earning an M.A. in the latter and a Ph.D. in the former. After completing a clinical psychology internship at the University of Minnesota, I worked as a psychotherapist on psychiatric units, engaged in a private practice, and taught part-time at the college and university levels. For several years, I maintained a small clinical practice in a United-Way funded, sliding scale family counseling center in Allentown. I began teaching at Muhlenberg in 1989. 

I am married to Maria. Our son, William David Tjeltveit, was born two days after graduation in 1998; our daughter, Anna Maria Tjeltveit, was born on Election Day, 2000 (no recount necessary!).

Teaching

I like teaching psychology because people fascinate me. I find odd and unusual behavior particularly interesting and I like talking with students about it. Furthermore, I think it very important to help people. And so I think the practical applications of psychology — in psychotherapy, in education, and so forth — are very important.

I like teaching psychology at Muhlenberg because the students are interesting, bright hardworking, socially-skilled, and concerned about other people. I like teaching in a liberal arts college because the connections among disciplines fascinate me, and making those connections is what we are all about.

I regularly teach Introductory Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counseling, History of Psychology, and Clinical Research. I have also taught Philosophical Psychology, and often supervise Independent Student and Independent Research projects and serve as Faculty Advisor to students engaged in practicum experiences in the community.

Research Interests

Psychotherapy fascinates me and so I study it. I am a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, and the Division of Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association. My work with students addresses values, ethics, mental health, religion, spirituality, and psychotherapy. Some of my students and I have presented research we conducted together at national and international meetings of professional associations. Two students and I published an article exploring the relationships among mental health values (values relevant to good psychological functioning ) and religious beliefs.

I am also interested in

• the ethical dimensions of psychology, including values and ethics in psychotherapy;

• professional ethics, including how psychologists can most effectively be educated to avoid ethical violations and to achieve ethical excellence;

• the connections among psychology and philosophy, and especially the subfield of theoretical and philosophical psychology;

• a variety of the many intersections among psychology and spirituality/religion; and

• the psychology of love of God and love of neighbor, including caring, compassion, volunteering, community service, and grace.

Selected Publications and Presentations

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. (2006). To what ends? Psychotherapy goals and outcomes, the good life, and the principle of beneficence. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43, 186-200.

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. (Ed.). (2006). Love [of God, love of neighbor-as-self], psychology, and theology [Special issue]. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 34 (1).

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. (2006). Psychology’s love–hate relationship with love: Critiques, affirmations, and Christian responses. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 34, 8–22.

•  Knapp, S., & Tjeltveit, A. C. (2005). A review and critical analysis of philosophical counseling. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 558–565.

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. (2004). Understanding human beings in the light of grace: The possibility and promise of theology-informed psychologies. Consensus: A Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology, 29, 99–122.

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. (2004). The good, the bad, the obligatory, and the virtuous: The ethical contexts of psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 14, 149–167.

• Tjeltveit, A. C., & Fowers, B. F. (Eds.). (2003). Explorations of human excellence in behavioral science: Rediscovering virtue in scholarship, teaching, and practice [Special issue]. American Behavioral Scientist, 47 (4).

• Fowers, B. F., & Tjeltveit, A. C. (2003). Virtue obscured and retrieved: Character, community, and practices in behavioral science. American Behavioral Scientist, 47 (4), 387–394.

• Tjeltveit, A. C. (2000). There's more to ethics than codes of professional ethics. Social ethics, theoretical ethics, and managed care. The Counseling Psychologist, 28, 242-252.

• Tjeltveit, A. C. (1999). Ethics and Values in Psychotherapy. London: Routledge.

• Richards, P.S., Rector, J. M., & Tjeltveit, A. C. (1999). Values, spirituality, and psychotherapy. In W.R. Miller (Ed.), Integrating spirituality in treatment: Resources for practitioners (pp.133-160). Washington, DC, American Psychological Association.

• Tjeltveit, A. C., Fiordalisi, A. M., & Smith, C. (1996). Relationships among mental health values and various dimensions of religiousness. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 364-377. (Muhlenberg student co-authors)

• Tjeltveit, A. C. (1986). The ethics of value conversion in psychotherapy: Appropriate and inappropriate therapist influence on client values. Clinical Psychology Review, 6, 515-537.

• Tjeltveit, A. C. Caring and compassion in the clinic: Dangerous, essential dimensions of ethical practice. Invited “Distinguished Lecture” presented at Widener University, Chester, PA, March 22, 2005.

• Tjeltveit, A. C. Preventing ethical misconduct. Presentation at the 9th annual Pennsylvania Psychological Association Ethics Educators meeting, Harrisburg, PA, November, 2003.

•  Gottlieb, M. C., & Tjeltveit, A. C. A primary prevention approach to ethical practice. Paper presented at a symposium, Positive strategies to prevent ethical problems in psychotherapy practice (A. C. Tjeltveit, Chair) at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August, 2003.

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. Variegated values: The origins of “values” as term of science, ethics, deconstruction, autonomy, and authenticity. Paper presented at the 35^th annual meeting of Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Durham, NH, June 19, 2003.

•  Tjeltveit, A. C. Applied psychology is (and should be) based on science and ethics, not science alone. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June, 2001.

• Tjeltveit, A. C. (1999, August). Thinking ethically about psychotherapy: Philosophical ethics and clinical practice. American Psychological Association Division 24 Pre-convention Continuing Education workshop, Boston, MA.

• Tjeltveit, A. C., Myers, B., Lanham, J., & Kelly, T. A. Measuring values relevant to mental health: Psychometric investigations of the Kelly Values Questionnaire. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Geilo, Norway, June, 1997. (2nd & 3rd co-authors: Muhlenberg students)

• Vera, T. Y., & Tjeltveit, A. C. The importance of gender and ethnic identity in Latinas. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology. New York, New York, July, 1995. (Muhlenberg student co-author)