Daniel Liechty, Ph.D.

Dr. Daniel Liechty holds graduate degrees in ethics, religious studies, social work, and counseling. He is currently a professor on the graduate faculty of Illinois State University, and specializes in teaching human behavior in the social environment in the ISU School of Social Work. He was trained as a group therapist at The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and practiced there as a group specialist. Before joining the faculty at Illinois State University, he was the Psychosocial Coordinator in the homecare and hospice program at Montgomery Hospital, where he specialized in counseling with dying patients and their families. He has been a student of Ernest Becker’s work for 30 years, and has published many professional articles and books on Becker’s work, including most recently Death and Denial: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Legacy of Ernest Becker (Praeger Press, 2002) and The Ernest Becker Reader (University of Washington Press, 2005). He is a longstanding Board member and current Vice-president of the Seattle-based Ernest Becker Foundation. Liechty is a member of the Academy of Clinical Social Workers (ACSW) and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the State of Illinois. Aside from his professional work, he plays guitar and mandola in the Celtic traditional band, Bloomsday.