Bryce Sullivan
Dr. Sullivan received his B.S., summa cum laude, from Georgia State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. His publication record includes 15 peer-reviewed journal articles, 4 book chapters, and 36 conference papers. Dr. Sullivan’s scholarly interests include the areas of Christianity and higher education, clinical psychology, and ethics in psychology. His teaching interests include personality theory, clinical psychology, and life of the mind. Most recently he taught a First Year Seminar class on Christianity and the Life of the Mind and also taught a Capstone Seminar on Religion, Personality, and the Psychology of Personal Adjustment. He is a licensed clinical psychologist, but all of his professional activities are currently devoted to his role as Dean.
A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Sullivan presented the keynote address at the “Second Annual Erase the Stigma,” and his talk was on “Religion, Mental Health and Clinical Practice: Integrating Psychological Treatment with Clients’ Religious Beliefs and Practice.” He has recently given two talks as part of the Belmont convocation series. The first was titled “Faith-Informed Liberal Arts and Sciences: The Vocation of a Christian (Scholar),” and the second was “Perspectives on Free Will and Determinism from Science and Christianity: B. F. Skinner and John Calvin. In Celebration of the 500th Birthday of John Calvin.” His 2010 Chapel devotional given at Belmont University was titled “Seeking the Kingdom of God: An Antidote to Worry.” At the International Institute for Christian Studies 2010 Vision Conference, he presented a paper on “Faculty Hiring Policies and Practices at Religious Colleges and Universities.” He also served on a panel of academic leaders at the Fall 2010 National Security Colloquium: Leadership in a Multi-Polar World. He is the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences Private Institutions Co-Chair.
His favorite quote from an author writing about higher education comes from the eminent historian George Marsden who was the College of Arts and Sciences’ guest as the keynote speaker at the 2010 Belmont University Research Symposium. Marsden wrote in the Introduction to his 1997 book, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, “I am advocating the opening of the academic mainstream to scholarship that relates one’s belief in God to what else one thinks about. Keeping within our intellectual horizons a Being who is great enough to create us and the universe, after all, ought to change our perspective on quite a number of things.”
Dr. Sullivan was a mental health volunteer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and was deployed to Baton Rouge where he served as a Mental Health Supervisor at a shelter with over 1,200 clients. He also oversaw his college’s response to help friends, colleagues, and others who were affected by the spring 2010 Nashville flood. His church home is Covenant Presbyterian in Nashville, Tennessee, where he serves as Chair of the Mission to Nashville and North America committee and as a leader of the church’s weekly Bible study at the Nashville Rescue Mission. He is an ordained ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. His wife Beth is on Covenant Presbyterian’s Christian Education Committee and serves as a Lecturer and leader for the Women in the Church Bible study.