Deacon Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D.

Deacon Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., is the St. Vincent dePaul Distinguished Professor of Psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, and Permanent Deacon in the Catholic faith serving the Diocese of Joliet, IL.

A global speaker and scholar on applied social-community-personality psychology topics, Ferrari’s research is known internationally for the study of the causes and consequence of chronic procrastination. He is the author of books including the popular, consumer Still Procrastinating? The No Regrets Guide to Getting It Done (2010). He also authored the scholarly text for anyone interested in research on procrastination, Procrastination and Task Avoidance: Theory, Research, and Treatment (1995), and for those working with students interested in academic procrastination, Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings (2004).

Within applied-community psychology, he focuses on psychological home, "clutter" in the home, office, and technology settings, homeless university students, the role of spirituality in recovery among homeless adults, community volunteerism, caregiver stress and satisfaction, volunteer leaders of religious and spiritual organizations, child safety in retail stores, psychological sense of community, and behavioral applications to social problems. He is the author of over 400 scholarly publications and 700 conference presentations. He has also been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community since 1995, and is the former Founding Director of both the Master of General Psychology and the Doctorate in Community Psychology, both at DePaul.

He is a Fellow in six professional organizations: the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, APA/Div. 27 the Society for Community Research and Action, APA/Div. 8 the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Eastern Psychological Association, and Midwestern Psychological Association.

At DePaul, he was the sole recipient of the 2009 Excellence in Public Service Award and received the 2001 Excellence in Scholarship Award. In 2016, he was the sole recipient of APA’s Distinguished Italian-American Psychologist Award.