Derald Wing Sue
Derald Wing Sue is an American psychologist of Chinese immigrant descent and Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.[1] He earned a B.S. in psychology from Oregon State University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in counseling psychology from the University of Oregon.[1] Sue is widely regarded as a foundational figure in multicultural psychology and counseling, with research emphasizing cultural competence, the psychology of racism, and antiracism strategies.[1] Sue has authored or co-authored more than 20 books and over 200 scholarly publications, including Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, now in its ninth edition (2022), which serves as a standard reference in multicultural counseling training due to its comprehensive integration of theory and practice.[1] He co-founded and served as the first president of the Asian American Psychological Association and has received awards such as the American Psychological Association's Public Interest Award (2013) for contributions to ethnic minority issues.[1] A key aspect of Sue's work involves the concept of microaggressions—defined as subtle, everyday verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights toward marginalized groups, often unintentional—which he elaborated in a seminal 2007 paper and the 2010 book Microaggressions in Everyday Life, the latter earning the National Diversity and Inclusion Book Prize.[2][1] This framework has influenced clinical practice, diversity education, and organizational policies, yet it has drawn criticism for methodological limitations, such as reliance on small focus groups (e.g., 10-13 participants) and subjective interpretations lacking large-scale quantitative validation, raising questions about its empirical robustness and potential overemphasis on perceived harms.[3][1]