Charles R. Figley was named the Paul Henry Kurzweg Chair in Disaster Mental Health at Tulane University in 2008 when he joined the faculty as its Distinguished Professor. Dr. Figley had served as a senior Professor and Director of the Traumatology Institute at Florida State University (FSU). Prior to FSU, Dr. Figley attained full professor status in 1983 at Purdue University with a joint appointment as professor of psychological sciences. At Purdue Dr. Figley established the renowned Purdue University Family Research Institute and he established two Journals as Founding Editor, the Journal of Psychotherapy and the Journal of Traumatic Stress. At FSU Professor Figley served as the senior professor in the area of traumatology and served as Director of the PhD Program in Marriage and Family. Dr. Figley founded the first Traumatology Institute at Florida State University that published and presented on psychosocial stress, which was recognized in 2000 as the best program of its kind by the University Continuing Education Association. Dr. Figley move the Institute to Tulane University in 2008. Charles Figley helped establish and served as the first editor of three journals: Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 1983-1990 (Haworth Press); Founding Editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress by the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and Plenum (initial publisher), 1987-1992, and; Founding Editor of Traumatology, the International Journal by the Green Cross Academy (currently published by the American Psychological Association) in 1995. 2 Professor Figley served as Editor of three book series. They include: Editor (Founder) of the Routledge Psychosocial Stress Book Series, 1978-present; Editor (Founder), Innovations in Psychology Book Series, 1995-2003 (CRC Press); Co-Editor (Founder) with Therese Rando, the Death and Trauma Book Series, 1996-2001 (Taylor & Francis Publishers). Charles Figley is a highly published and popular speaker. He has published more than 315 scholarly works including 200 refereed journal articles, 28 books and 85 book chapters. Collectively, his work reports on more than 37 research projects focusing primarily on traumatic stress and resiliency of individuals, families, and communities. His 2012 book, Encyclopedia of Trauma (Sage Press) was honored as the top book of its kind by the American Library Association and his 2013, First Do No Self Harm: Understanding and Promoting Physician Stress Resilience (Oxford University Press) were highly praised by the American Psychological Association. His co-edited book, Combat Social Workers: Applying the Lessons of War to the Realities of Human Services of published last year and his long-awaited book written with Mark Russell, Psychiatric Casualties: How the Military Ignores the Full Costs of War was published this year. He is cited as among the most productive scholars by Google Scholar. Dr. Figley is an elected fellow of the five of the leading national professional associations and received many other honors in recognition for his scholarship. He is the recipient of numerous lectureships and other honors throughout the world including Northern Ireland, South Africa, England, Australia, Canada, and universities through the United States. He was awarded a senior Fulbright Research Fellowship to conduct research in Kuwait in 2004 and follow-up on work that was started in 1992, shortly after the liberation from and end of the occupation by Iraq. In 2004, Dr. Figley was named lifetime Alumni Fellow by the Pennsylvania State University, the 3 highest honor awarded to its graduates. More recently, Figley was honored by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York with an honorary degree in June 2014 in recognition of his career-long achievements in social justice for the traumatized.
