About Dr. Ishikuma
Toshinori Ishikuma was born in 1950 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. I am a Japanese psychology professor known for my work on introducing and establishing the system of school psychology services in Japan. I am focusing on the research of school life support (educational counseling, special education, etc.), school counseling, and multi- cultural psychology. I am also a practitioner of psychological services. My identity is “Scientist -Practitioner”, which means to be both a researcher and a practitioner at the same time who can combine both roles to help quality of life for people with diverse background.
I was a Vice President and Executive Director of the University of Tsukuba and Superintendent of Education Bureau of the University of Tsukuba Laboratory Schools. It was exciting to work with faculties and students who have variety of capacity in many fields, and stimulating to relate to experienced teachers and attractive children in our laboratory schools.
Since 2016, I am a professor of Psychology and a Dean of Graduate School of Psychology at the Tokyo Seitoku University. My work is to lead training and education of future Certified Public Psychologists, Clinical Psychologists, and School Psychologists.
I have been providing psychological support for children in the affected areas by Great East Japan Earthquake as a member of Psychological Support Team for Children in Fukushima Education Board. Moreover, I am a leader of working grope whose aim is to promote a safe and secure nurturing in Tsukuba city. Through these activities, I support for communities to nurture children.
I was a member of several expert working groups for Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). I had chances to develop educational policies on cultivating richness in mind.
I am certified as a Supervisor for both of School Psychologist and Special Education Needs Specialist in Japan as well as a Guidance Counselor, and involve in the certification of these qualifications. In addition, as a member of Japanese Union of Psychological Associations, I participated in activities to pass the “Certified Public Psychologists Bill” on national qualification of the psychology profession .
【Career】
I earned my Ph.D. from University of Alabama, USA in 1990, specializing in School Psychology. I spent about seven years while I was surrounded by American nature, such as coming out to TV drama “Little House on the Prairie”. At University of Alabama, I was under Dr. Alan S. Kaufman, a leading expert on school psychology, and I studied about psychological services with a focus on each child’s strengths in intelligence and a philosophy of intelligent testing. While Lecturer at San Diego State University (1989-1990), I worked with Drs. Carol Robinson-Zañartu, Valerie J. Cook-Morales, and Colette Ingraham. I was influenced by them, and learned the assessment and services for children within the environmental and multi-cultural context and through integration with ecological processes. For my interest in Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) in Counseling, I had an opportunity to be supervised by Dr. Albert Ellis. From him, I learned how to serve people with focuses on resolving cognitive, emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. I applied and revised the RET to be useful and effective for Japanese clients by integrating RET with humanistic approaches.
Dr. Alan S. Kaufman is my great teacher and mentor in psychological testing and school psychology. We continue joint research on assessment. What was the best of happiness as his student was to be able to invite Dr. Kaufman to Memorial Lectures twice in Japan, one for the Japanese Academy of Learning Disabilities and the other for the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. My three mentors at San Diego State University still influence me on multicultural approach in school psychology. Growing need for diversity coexistence, learning with mentors in San Diego is very precious. Furthermore, I continue to apply RET, taught by Dr. Ellis, to my life and psycho-educational services.
Professional Associations
· National Association of School Psychologists
· International School Psychology Association
· Japanese School Psychology Association (President )
· Japanese Organization of Certifying and Managing School
Psychologists ( President )
· Japanese Association of School Psychologists
( on director board )
· Japanese Association of School Counseling ( President )
· Japanese Association of Educational Psychology
( on director board )
· Japanese Academy of Learning Disabilities
(on director board)
· Japanese Association of Certified Public Psychologists
( vice-president )
