Lewis Aptekar received his PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Michigan. After having post-graduate training in Clinical Psychology from Texas Tech Medical School he became licensed as a Clinical Psychologist. He is an Expert Reviewer for the California Board of Psychology, and an Independent Evaluator for the Board of Prisons. He has done clinical work with the Deputy Sheriff Association and Victim Witness Program.

He is currently Professor of Counselor Education at San Jose State University. Some of his academic awards include two Fulbright scholarships (Colombia and Swaziland), a Senior Fulbright Scholar award (Honduras), Nehru Visiting Professor, (University of Baroda, India), a Kellogg Foundation/Partners of the Americas Fellowship in International Development, a Rotarian International Ambassadorship (Zambia), and a scholarly residency at the Bellagio Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center (Italy).

He has received research grants from the National Science Foundation to study street children in Kenya and the Natural Hazards and Research Applications Center to study post traumatic responses after natural disasters. His books include Street children of Cali (Duke University Press, 1988) and Environmental disasters in global perspective (G. K. Hall/ Macmillan, 1994). Some of his chapters include “Cultural problems for Western counselors working with Ethiopian refugees" (in Counseling refugees: A psychosocial approach to innovative multicultural innovations, Greenwood Press, 2003, “Walks in Kaliti Life in a Destitute Shelter for the Displaced” (in Trauma, War, and Violence: Public Mental Health in Socio-cultural Context, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2002), “Street children in Nairobi, Kenya: Gender differences and mental health”, (in Developmental issues among homeless and working street youth: New Directions in Childhood Development, Jossey Bass, 1997), “Growing up in particularly difficult circumstances (in Handbook of Cross-cultural psychology, 2nd ed., Allyn & Bacon, 1996).

In addition he has published over 40 articles in scientific journals including “Street children in the developing world” (in Cross-cultural Research). “Are Colombian street children neglected: The contributions of ethnographic and ethnohistorical approaches to the study of children” (in Anthropology and Education Quarterly); “The emotional effects of disasters on children” (in International Journal of Mental Health); and “Suggestions for providing services to the handicapped in Latin America” (in World Development).

He has been affiliated with the Universidad del Valle, Columbia, Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi, University of Swaziland, Addis Ababa University, University of Zambia, Universidad Pedagogica Nacional, Francisco Morazan, Honduras, and Johns Hopkins University, and the Free University of the Netherlands. He is currently President Elect of the Society for Cross-cultural Research. Professor Aptekar is married with two children, Rachel and Samuel.


Education
  • Post-doctoral residency in clinical psychology. Texas Tech University, School of Medicine,
    1985-86. (Licensed Psychologist, California #PZ105507

  • Ph.D. University of Michigan, Educational Psychology, 1970

  • B.S. Wayne State University, Psychology and Special Education

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Selected University Teaching Affiliations
  • Professor Counselor Education, College of Education, San Jose State University,
    1987-current

  • Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia,
    2000-01

  • Nehru Visiting Professor, M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda, India, Department of Human Development, 1998
  • Visiting Associate Professor, Addis Ababa University, Department of Psychiatry, and IPSER, Free University of Amsterdam and Department of Psychiatry, 1996-7
  • Senior Fulbright Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Swaziland, 1995-6
  • Visiting Scholar, Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi, 1994-5
  • Visiting Professor, Department of External Relations, Johns Hopkins University, 1993

  • Fulbright Scholar, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, 1983-84 and Universidad de Santo Tomas. Bogota, Colombia.

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Selected Publications
  • Aptekar, L. (in press). The changing developmental dynamics of "children in particularly difficult circumstances": Examples of street and war traumatized children. In Gielen, U. & J. Roopnarine, Childhood and adolescence in cross-cultural perspective: Greenwood Press.
  • Aptekar, L. (in press). Some cultural problems for Westerner's counseling in Ethiopia. In Bemak, F., Chi-Ying, R. & P. Pedersen. Counseling Refugees: A Psychosocial Approach to Innovative Multicultural Interventions. Greenwood Publishing Group, Connecticut.
  • Aptekar, L. & Giel, R. (in press). Walks in Kaliti, life in a shelter. In de Jong, J (ed). War and violence: Public health in the socio-cultural context. NY: Plenum-Kluwer.
  • Aptekar, L., Paardekooper, B., & Kuebli, J. (2000). Adolescence and youth among displaced Ethiopians: A case study in Kaliti camp. International Journal of Group Tensions, 29,1-2: 101-135.
  • Aptekar, L., and Ciano, L. (1999) Street children in Nairobi, Kenya: Gender differences and mental health. In, Developmental issues among homeless and working street youth: New Directions in Childhood Development, Rafaelli, M. & R. Larson (eds.), pp 35-46. SF, CA: Jossey Bass.

  • Aptekar, L., Maphalala, T.P. , Dlamini, G., Makhanya, J., & Magagula, S. (1998). The newly emerging problem of street children in Swaziland. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 2: 123-141.
  • Aptekar, L. (1997). Street children in Nairobi, Kenya: Gender differences and mental health. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 2: 34-53.
  • Aptekar, L., & Abebe, B. (1997) Conflict in the Neighborhood: Street children and the public space. Childhood, 4 (4): 477-490.
  • Aptekar, L., & D. Stocklin. (1996). Growing up in particularly difficult circumstances: A cross-cultural perspective. In J. Berry, P. R. Dasen, & T. S. Saraswathi (Eds). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (2nd ed.). Volume 2: Basic processes and development psychology (pp. 377-412). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
  • Aptekar, L. (1994). Street children in the developing world: A review of their condition, Cross-cultural Research, 28 (3), pp. 195?224.
  • Aptekar, L. (1994). Environmental Disasters in Global Perspective. New York: G. K. Hall/Macmillan.
  • Aptekar, L. (1991). The Psycho?social Process of Adjusting to Natural Disasters. Working paper #70. Natural Hazards Research and Applications Center, Institute of Behavior Science, University of Colorado.
  • Aptekar, L. and Boore, J. "The Emotional Effects of Disaster on Children, International Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 19, No. 2,summer 1990, pp 77-90.
  • Aptekar, L. (1988). Street Children of Cali. Duke University Press.

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Selected Grants
  • National Science Foundation, "The street children of 1994 Kenya: Consequences of Modernization and Changing Family Structures".
  • Sun Microsystems Foundation, "Helping Under-represented 1992 Students Make the Transition: The High School Entrance Academy"
  • Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information 1989 Center, Quick Response Grants, "Understanding the Mental Health Problems of Children in a Disaster."
  • The Kellogg Foundation @ Partners of the Americas, "Training 1987 University Students to Work With Street Children."

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Selected Recent Invited Presentations
  • Key Note Address, International Society for Study of Behavioral Development, Adolescence and youth among displaced Ethiopians: A case study in Kaliti Camp, July 22, 1998, Windhoek, Namibia.
  • Invited Keynote: International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Chandigarh, India, November, 21, 1995. A culturally sensitive plan for working with street children.
  • Chair, 6th Annual BOLESWA Conference, Gabaronne, Botswana, August 8, 1995. Training teachers to work with street children.
  • Invited Workshop: Norwegian Center for Child Research, Haholmen, Norway, May 2-24, 1995, Using drawings to understand traumatized children.
  • Invited Keynote: Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, S. Africa, March 9, 1995. Cross-cultural problems faced by people who work with street children

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