Janette McDonald

Professor

Department

• Psychology

Contact Information

• 614-236-6995
• jmcdonal@capital.edu
• Ruff Learning Center 223

Biography

Dr. Janette McDonald has an interdisciplinary appreciation for academic and scholarly endeavors. She has extensive training in end-of-life care with a particular focus on bereavement and grief.

Ordained in 2011 by Roshi Joan Halifax as a Zen Hospice Chaplain, Dr. McDonald has specific research interests in meditation and its impact on the mind. Her preferred mode of inquiry is phenomenology, the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to or a part of philosophy. Her current research interests include meditation’s impact on the development of human compassion.

A frequent presenter at international conferences, Dr. McDonald also studies and writes about hope, forgiveness and spirituality. She recently completed an academic sabbatical where she spent a significant portion of that time in deep retreat studying the Lo Jong trainings with a Zen Monk. Also during her sabbatical she was an invited presenter and delivered scholarly papers in Oxford, England and Prague, in the Czech Republic on the phenomenon of madness in the 21st century and implementing spirituality in university curricular design.