Peitao Zhu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Counseling
ACUE Distinguished Teaching Scholar

Department

Peitao Zhu joined the NIU faculty in fall 2020. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education from Syracuse University. Professor Zhu's research agenda revolves broadly around the impact of cultural issues on the relational processes in counseling and counselor education. He is most focused on cultural humility and its implications while expanding his scholarship in group work, counselor education pedagogy and theoretical/philosophical issues in counseling. He is passionate about research methodology and has experience with a broad range of quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry. Professor Zhu has published actively and consistently in indexed, competitive counseling and counseling-related journals such as the Counselor Education and Supervision, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, Journal of Mental Health Counseling and Journal of Constructivist Psychology. Professor Zhu is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and has a particular clinical interest in complex trauma.

Professor Zhu currently serves on the editorial board of several top counseling journals, such as the Counselor Education and Supervision, Journal for Counseling and Development and Journal for Specialists in Group Work. He is an ACES Emerging Leader (2021) and an NYU Steinhardt Faculty-First Look Scholar (2019-2020). He is actively involved in professional counseling organizations on the regional, national, and international levels. Professor Zhu has received several research grants, such as the ASGW Research Grant (2019), AARC Sponsored Scholarship Program (2020), SACES Research Grant (2020) and Northern Illinois University College of Education Dean's Research Grant.

Research Interests

Cultural humility
Counselor Education Pedagogy
Theoretical/philosophical issues in counseling
Complex trauma
Group counseling

Select Referred Publications

Zhu, P. and Zhou, X. (2023). The polyphonic narrative voices within an LGB-identifying international sojourner: A dialogical self perspective. Journal of Constructivist Psychology.

Li, C., Zhu, P., and Loveless, C. (2022). Counselors' challenging experience in integrated behavioral healthcare: A qualitative exploration. Counselor Education and Supervision.

Zhu, P., Isawi, D., and Luke M. (2022). A discourse analysis of cultural humility within counseling dyads. Journal of Counseling and Development. Advanced online publication.

Zhu, P. and Luke, M. (2022). A supervisory framework for systematically attending to the outcomes in clinical supervision. International Journal for the Advancement in Counselling. 44, 94-111.

Zhu, P., Liu, Y., Luke, M., and Wang, Q. (2022). The development and initial validation of the cultural humility and enactment scale in counseling. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development.

Zhu, P., Luke, M., and Bellini, J. L. (2021). A grounded theory analysis of cultural humility in counseling and counselor education. Counselor Education and Supervision, 60(1), 73-89.

Zhu, P., Lau, J., Navalta, C. P. (2020). An ecological approach to understanding pervasive and hidden shame in complex trauma. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 42(2), 155-169.

Zhu, P. (2018). Experiential growth group in counselor education: a review of its pedagogy, research, and ethical dilemmas. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 43(2), 144–165.

Education

Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education, Syracuse University
M.A. in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
B.S. in Biotechnology, Fudan University