Dr. Allan Hugh Cole Jr. is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of Undergraduate Programs, and Professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to the University of Texas, he served as Dean and The Nancy Taylor Williamson Distinguished Chair of Pastoral Care at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, TX as well a Lecturer at Princeton Theological Seminary. Among Dr. Cole’s current teaching and research interests are: Counseling Interventions Spirituality/Religion and Social Work, Mentoring, Psychosocial Development of Boys and Men, Disabilities. He has also written extensively in these areas. To name a few of his books, Cole is the author of:
1. The Life of Prayer: Mind, Body, and Soul
2. Be Not Anxious: Pastoral Care of Disquieted Souls
3. Good Mourning: Getting Through Your Grief
4. Brief Counseling in Action: A Task-Centered Approach for Social Workers
He has also edited:
1. Theology in Service to the Church: Global and Ecumenical Perspectives
2. Fathers in Faith: Reflections on Parenthood and a Christian Life
3. A Spiritual Life: Perspectives from Poets, Prophets, and Preachers
Co-authored with Donald Capps and Robert C. Dykstra, he has written The Faith and Friendships of Teenage Boys AND Losers, Loners, and Rebels: The Spiritual Struggles of Boys. Dr. Cole is also the author of various chapters, articles, and reviews in volumes and journals related to the fields of social work, counseling, and the psychology of religion. He serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Spirituality and Religion in Social Work: Social Thought. Responsible for leadership of the School of Social Work’s academic affairs and a member of the Council on Leadership Development for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), his work focuses on educating and supporting persons in social work research, practice, teaching, and leadership.
Rev. Dr. Philip Browning Helsel, is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Previously he served for four years at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. His current research interests include systemic pastoral care for oppression, migration as pastoral theology, collective trauma, and the care for families and kin networks, and pastoral care during a Trump presidency. He is author of Pastoral Power (Palgrave, 2015) a book in the New Approaches to Religion and Power Series that is the first full-length book in pastoral care to examine the Great Recession’s impact on mental health of communities. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, and is on the editorial board for The Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling. He is co-chair of the Intercultural and Interreligious Pastoral Theology group at the Society for Pastoral Theology.
