Known widely as a trailblazer in the field of ethnic minority psychology, Stanley Sue was a Distinguished Professor at UC Davis and Palo Alto University. His article in American Psychologist, “Science, Ethnicity and Bias: Where Have We Gone Wrong” is one of the most widely-cited publications in psychology. The article highlighted the importance of lived experience among People of Colour, and challenged much of the Western-centric science that had gone before.
Sue was a big proponent of cultural competence, the idea that psychologists and other mental health professionals must account for the cultural background of their client in order to provide effective services. In research conducted with his colleague Herman McKinney, Sue tracked more than 14,000 people accessing mental health services in Washington state. His 2001 publication, In Defense of Cultural Competency in Psychotherapy and Treatment, he pointed out many gaps in psychology when it came to the treatment of ethnic minorities, and declared cultural competence to be both a scientific and an ethical responsibility.
He co-founded the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA), along with his brother and fellow psychology professor Derald Wing Sue, in 1972. This was one of the first official organizations dedicated to exploring the mental health of Asian-Americans, and it is still enhancing cultural understanding and psychological science today.