Dr. Joyce Tu, Ed.D., BCBA-D

Dr. Joyce Tu is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with a doctorate in educational psychology from West Virginia University specializing in applied behavior analysis (ABA). Dr. Tu has over 25 years’ experience as an ABA educator, practitioner and business leader in the U.S. and abroad.

Current Roles

Dr. Tu is the Founder and Director of ABA Unlimited®. Dr. Tu is also President of the B.F. Skinner Foundation; Vice President of Clinical Transformations, Autism Services for Easterseals Southern California; and she serves on the Editorial Board of Behavior and Social Issues, published by the Association of Behavior Analysis International (ABAI).

Prior Private Sector Roles

Dr. Tu’s prior private sector experience includes over 16 years as Founder and Director of Center for Behavioral Sciences, Inc., a California ABA provider acquired in 2019 by Easterseals Southern California. Previously, Dr. Tu co-founded Applied Behavior Consultants-China (ABC-China), which trained hundreds of administrators, teachers, parents and behavior interventionists to provide autism services, and established ABA classrooms in China.

Academic Appointments and Research

Dr. Tu’s research is chiefly on verbal behavior, specifically, joint control and its role in listeners’ behavior. Her work is published in peer-reviewed journals, such as The European Journal of Behavior Analysis and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and is accessible on Google Scholar. In 2011, Dr. Tu co-authored a Chinese-language textbook published by Peking University Press, including chapters on shaping, prompting/fading, chaining and generalization.

Dr. Tu has held professorships at California State University Los Angeles, Ball State University, Florida Institute of Technology and others. In 2021, Dr. Tu developed and supervised the first verified ABA course sequence for Peking University, one of China’s oldest and most prestigious higher learning institutions.

Speaking Engagements

Dr. Tu is a sought-after lecturer on a wide range of behavior analytic topics. She has presented countless workshops and speaking engagements for businesses and professional organizations worldwide, including ABA International (ABAI); the ABA International Conference in Bucharest; the Ai You Foundation in Beijing; Behavior Momentum India (BMI); the Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia (ABAA); the California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA); the Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP); and the International Annual Conference on Autism, Challenges and Solutions in Abu Dhabi, among others. If you are interested in engaging Dr. Tu, please contact us for availability.

Volunteer Work

In addition to her ongoing philanthropic work for the B.F. Skinner Foundation and as a journal editor, Dr. Tu has volunteered on the Best Buddies International Board of Advisors (2010-2013), as Editor-in-Chief of Operants Magazine (2010-2014) and on the CalABA Board of Directors (2009-2018) in various capacities including as its president.

Other Interests

In her spare time, Dr. Tu practices Ashtanga Yoga. She is certified by Yoga Alliance as a 200-hour registered yoga instructor and teaches at Pacific Ashtanga in Dana Point, California.