Sonja Bethune, PsyD

Dr. Sonja Bethune is part of the core faculty in the Academic Engagement Center at the University of Arizona Global Campus. Currently, her role is to assist in mentoring and coaching associate faculty who teach the General Education Capstone course (GEN499). In addition, she models best teaching practices when facilitating GEN499 courses. Dr. Bethune earned a BA degree in Psychology and holds an M.Ed. with an emphasis in Counseling from Wichita State University in Wichita, KS. She also earned a PsyD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Health Psychology at California School of Professional Psychology and is currently a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of CA. She has over 22 years of experience in the field of psychology fulfilling various roles, such as a supervisor, trainer, director, educator, and therapist at various psychiatric hospitals, schools, and mental health clinics in Southern California. She also has several years of experience teaching online courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the area of psychology. In 2014, Dr. Bethune co-authored and published a book titled "Online Instructor Sanity: Tips and Tools to Bring Joy to Your Online World," which provides online instructors encouragement, guidance, and teaching strategies. In 2015, she co-published a journal article in the Online Learning: Official Journal of the Online Learning Consortium titled "Implicit Bias and First Name Stereotypes: What Are the Implications for Online Instruction?," which involved an investigation of whether there is a relationship between implicit bias toward race or ethnicity and student first names. Her research interests are being directed more towards the effects of social media on a person’s mental well-being. Also, she is leading some initiatives within UAGC that hope to increase student retention.