Dr. Gladding received a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from UNCG in 1977. He is the chair of and a professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University. He is a fellow in the American Counseling Association and its former president (2004-2005). Before joining the Department of Counseling full time, Dr. Gladding was Assistant to the President and the Associate Provost at Wake Forest. He has authored numerous professional publications, including 41 books, five teaching videos, and over six dozen (72) scholarly articles.
During the Christmas holidays of 1995, Dr. Gladding led a group of Wake Forest students to work in the homes of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. He was a first responder to the 9/11 attack in New York City in 2001 providing psychological first aid to families of victims killed in the Twin Towers. He was also a first responder to the shootings at Virginia Tech. He has been honored by the American Counseling Association with the Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person, and the Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award.
Twice a Fulbright Specialist, Dr. Gladding has taught counseling and worked with universities in Turkey, China, Estonia, Austria, Malaysia, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, and Canada. He served on the faculties at Fairfield University (Connecticut) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham before coming to Wake Forest. He started his career as a clinician in a rural mental health center in Rockingham County, North Carolina. He served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps at Fort Lee, Virginia, before that.
Dr. Gladding has been married to his wife, Claire, for 28 years. They are the parents of three grown children. He also received degrees from Wake Forest (B.A., M.A.), and Yale (M.A.). Speaking on behalf of all 2014 alumni award recipients, Dr. Gladding said that receiving recognition is not a sign that we have arrived, but rather “a marker event in life that encourages us, and hopefully those of you with us, to go on and do more.” He said that the award recipients give special thanks to UNCG for the School of Health and Human Sciences and the part it has played in their lives. “Professors, administrators, and fellow students have all had a distinct and unique influence on who we have become.”