Arthur C. Jones, Ph.D
The Spirituals Project
Arthur Jones is a clinical psychologist, interdisciplinary scholar and avocational singer who received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Iowa (Iowa City) in 1974. He is currently Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Denver (DU), and Professor Emeritus of Music, Culture and Psychology in DU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. From 2016 to 2019, he was Teaching Professor of Music, Culture and Psychology at the DU Lamont School of Music. Before that, he served as a clinical professor and associate dean at DU’s Colorado Women’s College (2009-2016), and as a clinical professor in the Department of Psychology (1991-2009). He is also a past president of the DU Faculty Senate (2014-2016).
Dr. Jones is the Founder of the award-winning Spirituals Project, which has worked since 1998 to preserve and revitalize the music and teachings of the sacred folk songs called “spirituals,” created and first sung by enslaved African Americans. The multifaceted The Spirituals Project has operated in several domains, including research, educational programming, and musical performance, anchored by its multi-ethnic, inter-generational Spirituals Project Choir.
In the Fall of 2016, The Spirituals Project became an official program of the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, under the direction of M. Roger Holland II – a nationally renowned conductor, composer, pianist, and singer – who was recruited to serve as the Spirituals Project’s first faculty director. In his role as Professor Emeritus, Dr. Jones continues to serve as an informal advisor to Professor Holland and The Spirituals Project, and he participates actively with The Spirituals Project Choir as a chorister, soloist and communal song leader.
Combining his expertise and experience as a psychologist, scholar and accomplished singer (with fourteen years of private voice study and experience as a recitalist and as an Opera Colorado chorister and soloist), Dr. Jones has presented concerts, lectures, and workshops on spirituals throughout the United States. He is the author of numerous professional publications, including the award-winning book, Wade in the Water: The Wisdom of the Spirituals, now in its third edition, and he has been the recipient of a variety of local, regional and national awards for his teaching, community service and scholarship, including – most recently – the Menola Upshaw Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award, from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Award, from Metropolitan State University of Denver; and the “African Americans Who Make a Difference” Award, from the Denver Urban Spectrum.
Prior to coming to the University of Denver in 1991, Dr. Jones held full-time faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He also maintained an independent psychology practice in Denver for many years. He is a past chair of the Colorado Board of Psychologist Examiners, which awards licenses to professional psychologists and monitors professional conduct among psychologists state-wide. During his tenure as Chair of the Board in the 1980s, he led the charge to ensure that the demonstration of multi-cultural competence was required of every psychologist applying for licensure in Colorado.
