Julie Exline
Case Western Reserve University
Julie Exline, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. After studying Computer Science as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan and working as a database programmer for several years, Julie went back to school at Stony Brook University and earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
Her research centers primarily on the interface of clinical, social, and personality psychology, with a special focus on topics involving spirituality, religion, and existential concerns. She has a special interest in the struggles and challenges that people often experience around religion and spirituality, and she also studies the causes and consequences of supernatural attributions for events. She has served as Principal Investigator on two large projects funded by the John Templeton Foundation: one on religious/spiritual struggles and another on supernatural attributions. She remains active in research in both areas. She also has worked extensively on topics related to forgiveness and humility.
Julie is a licensed clinical psychologist in Ohio and has served as the Director of Clinical Training for the Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Case Western Reserve University. She has also been certified as a spiritual director through the Ignatian Spirituality Institute at John Carroll University. She is a Past President of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (American Psychological Association’s Division 36) and has received the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award, the Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award, and the William James Award from that group. Her current research focuses on a wide array of topics around spiritual struggles and supernatural attributions, with topics including gratitude to God, perceptions of after-death communication, beliefs about supernatural evil, and the many ways that people perceive “God’s voice” in their lives.