Sheri Atwater

Dr. Atwater teaches courses in applied developmental psychology (lifespan), individual and group counseling, counseling theories and techniques, and psychological assessment and consultation in both the Counseling and School Psychology programs at LMU. Dr. Atwater received her B.A. from Stanford University and her M.A., P.P.S. Credential, and Ph.D. (School Psychology) from the University of California at Berkeley.

Previously, Dr. Atwater has been a professor of counseling in CSULA's Charter College of Education (2003-14) and served as co-Principal Investigator for the Los Angeles County Office of Education's Student Mental Health Initiative, a grant that provided training in suicide prevention and postvention to pre-service teachers, counselors, and administrators. Dr. Atwater has served as past President of the School Psychology Educators of California (SPEC); member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Multicultural Education (CSULA); and Editorial Review Board Member for Scientific Journals International.

Since 2001, Dr. Atwater has worked in Oakland, Alameda, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Berkeley Unified School Districts conducting and supervising psychological assessments and individual and group counseling sessions; worked on research and program evaluations with Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International (Washington DC), the Bay Area Consortium for Urban Education (Berkeley, CA), and the Corporation for Research in Educational Networking (Washington, D.C.); and served as supervisor to clinical fieldwork candidates and psychology interns in Los Angeles area schools.

Dr. Atwater is also the creator and Project Director of the SUCCESS Coaching program, a multi-year collaboration (2010-2015) with the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she supervised graduate students as they provided individual clinical services to elementary school students. Her most recent national workshop presentations focus on how educators can foster effective culturally-relevant dialogue in classrooms and schools and avoid the "trap" of color-blind racial ideology.