Fr. Gerdenio (Sonny) Manuel, S.J. is Director of
USF's Saint Ignatius Institute and Professor of
Psychology. He is also the Provincial Assistant for Higher
Education and Prefect of Studies for the California Province of the
Jesuits.
Fr. Manuel's areas of scholarship include coping with
stress and traumatic life events and the relationship of
psychology, faith, and religious life. He is the author of
Living Celibacy, Healthy Pathways for Priests published by
Paulist Press. His teaching interests include positive psychology,
abnormal psychology, and clinical psychology.
He is a recipient of the Sears Roebuck Foundation Teaching
Excellence and Campus Leadership Award "in recognition of
outstanding contributions to undergraduate education, student
learning, and campus life" and an American Council on Education
Fellowship for Leadership in Higher Education.
He has served on the Executive Committees and the Boards of
Trustees of the University of San Francisco, Fordham University,
and Santa Clara University. He currently serves on the Loyola
Marymount Board of Trustees.
He has held the positions of Director of Vocations, Director
of Jesuits in Formation, and the Director of Strategic Planning for
the California Province of the Jesuits.
A licensed psychologist in California, Fr. Manuel completed
his clinical internship at Cambridge City Hospital, Harvard Medical
School where he was also an Advanced Clinical Fellow. He received
his Doctorate in Psychology from Duke University in 1985, Masters
in Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1978,
and Bachelor of Arts from the University of San Francisco in
1971.
