Duane Bidwell Ph.D.

Education

Ph.D. Texas Christian University
M.Div., Texas Christian University
B.S., Texas Christian University

Biography

An award-winning teacher and mentor, Duane (he/him/his) has thirty years of experience as a faculty member, psychotherapist, nonprofit director, clinical supervisor, and accreditation specialist. He has published six books and more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and his work has been featured by NPR, CNN, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Spirituality & Practice, and The Utne Reader.

His most recent book, "After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know about Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness" (Beacon, 2024), documents how children diagnosed with end-stage renal disease choose and practice hope.

In January 2025, Duane presented the annual Lectureship on Spirituality and Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In May 2025, he will keynote the Adventist Bioethics Consortium annual meeting in Michigan. His VA grand rounds presentation "Engaging Complex Religious Bonds in Whole-Person Care: Preparing the Interprofessional Team" was canceled "due to current executive orders surrounding DEI content."

Duane's HPE research focuses on leadership competencies for senior education leaders at US Veterans Health Administration (VA) medical centers.

At USU, Duane directs the DEO Development Program in collaboration with the VA Office of Academic Affiliations, offering a leadership curriculum for educational executives who oversee clinical training at each VA medical center.

His research in leadership competencies, spirituality, and mental health uses qualitative data to explore how identity, agency, and possibility contribute to behavioral change and effective leadership. He works from a relational, strengths-based perspective, drawing from expertise in solution-focused, narrative, and appreciative practices. His next project examines interbeing and existential experience in the treatment of cancer.

Duane has worked as an oncology, orthopedics, and trauma chaplain in public and pediatric hospitals, and he has a long interest in narrative and relational medicine and humanism in medicine.

His career has placed him into relationship with people from diverse racial-ethnic, geographic, social, political, and socioeconomic contexts, leading him to use intersectional, intercultural, and decolonial theory to cultivate and amplify justice, equity, diversity, inclusivity, fairness, access, and representation in clinical, educational, and leadership practices.

Previous to USU, Duane was on faculty at Claremont School of Theology, an interreligious graduate school in Southern California, where students selected him three times for teaching and mentoring awards.

Duane has also directed an HIV/AIDS services organization; directed a community counseling and training center; and designed, implemented, and directed an international diploma in professional practice. For six years, he served on the board of The Taos Institute, an international educational organization that promotes relational approaches to education, organizational development, mental health, and other issues.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

2010-2022 - Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counseling and Accreditation Liaison Officer - Claremont School of Theology

2018-2021 - Director of International Diploma in Social Construction and Professional Practice - The Taos Institute

2009-2019 - Senior Staff Clinician and Supervisor - The Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy

2009-2012 - "Beyond Apologetics: Sexual Identity, Pastoral Theology, and Pastoral Practice" research grant with Joretta Marshall, PhD

2008-2012 - "Children's Accounts of Hope in Chronic Illness," collaborative research with Donald L. Batisky, MD

2007-2009 - Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology - Phillips Theological Seminary

2006-2007 - “Promotion of Health and Community through Parish Nursing,” a strategic-initiative fund grant between Texas Christian University and Brite Divinity School (Rhonda Keen, Ph.D., principal investigator; Nancy Ramsay, Ph.D., co-investigator)

2002-2007 - Director, Pastoral Care and Training Center - Texas Christian University

Representative Bibliography

Bidwell, DR, Samuel, A, Cervero, RM, Durning, SJ, Stephan, SL, Patel, EL, Bowman, MA, Meyer, HS. Prioritized Competencies for Designated Education Officers in the Veterans Health Administration. Military Medicine. 2024: 1-6.

Bidwell, DR, Samuel, A, Cervero, RM, Durning, SJ, Stephan, SL, Patel, EL, Bowman, MA, Meyer, HS. Perceptions of Key Responsibilities and Professional Development Desires of Senior Educational Leaders: A Needs Assessment. Academic Medicine. 2024.

"Spiritual Care in Totalitarian Contexts: Lessons from Cuba and Vietnam," in The Art of Spiritual Care Across Religious Difference, revised edition, Jill Snodgrass, ed., pp. 131-152. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2024). Co-authored with Daniel S. Schipani, Dr.Psy., Ph.D.

After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know about Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness (Boston: Beacon, 2024).

When One Religion Isn't Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People (Boston: Beacon, 2018)

Spirituality, Social Construction, and Relational Processes: Essays and Reflections (Ed.) (Chagrin Falls, OH: WorldShare Books, 2016)

Empowering Couples: A Narrative Approach to Spiritual Care (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013)

The Formation of Pastoral Counselors: Challenges and Opportunities (co-editor with Joretta Marshall) (New York: Routledge, 2007)

Short-term Spiritual Guidance (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004)