Program Overview

Program Overview

The Ph.D. in Education with a concentration in Counselor Education and Supervision is a CACREP-accredited, research-oriented degree intended for individuals with master's degrees in counseling and professional experience in the field wishing to work at a more advanced level. Most of the doctoral students in this concentration are preparing for the professional ranks of higher education or to assume positions of leadership in schools and agencies.

Program Objectives

The program has the following objectives:

• Dispositions: Students will demonstrate the attitudes, characteristics, and behaviors defined by the program as characteristic of exemplar counseling professionals.
• Ethical Practice: Students will demonstrate the capacity to practice counseling from a strong foundational understanding of ethical and legal issues, intentionally integrating counseling ethical practices into day-to-day professional activities.
• Counseling: Students will demonstrate a capacity to understand, analyze, apply, and evaluate counseling theory and evidence-based counseling practices, culturally relevant counseling practices.
• Supervision: Students will demonstrate knowledge of clinical supervision theory, the application of clinical supervision theory into practice, legal and ethical issues in clinical supervision, and other supervision knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective clinical supervisor in a diverse society.
• Teaching: Students will demonstrate competence in understanding the roles and responsibilities of counselor educators, gatekeeping in counselor education, instructional and curricular design, pedagogy, and evaluation of instruction in counselor education.
• Research and Scholarship: Students will demonstrate the capacity to design, implement, and disseminate results of an original research study in counseling, and will gain knowledge in writing for publication and grant writing.
• Leadership and Advocacy: Students will demonstrate knowledge of leadership content, style, skills, and strategies important for success in counseling leadership.
• Counselor Education: Students will demonstrate a broad understanding of counselor education, including a foundational understanding of the higher education work environment, accreditation standards and processes, current political issues impacting counseling and higher education, gatekeeping, mentorship, and ethics in Counselor Education.

Admission Criteria

Materials and criteria for the Counselor Education and Supervision area of emphasis are as follows:

• Undergraduate and graduate GPA of 3.00 or higher
• Master's degree in counseling education from a CACREP-accredited institution
• Resume or curriculum vitae
• Statement of Intent that includes a Philosophy of Education
• Three letters of recommendation
• One sample of scholarly writing
• Signed disposition form

Curricular Structure

The Ph.D. Program in Education with an emphasis on Counselor Education and Supervision is an in-person doctoral program that is intended to be completed in three years, assuming that the student enters the program with a Master's Degree in Counseling. Students who intend to graduate from the program must complete the following program requirements (96 credits min):

Research and Statistics

• 21 credits
• The Chair and Committee may guide the student in selection of these courses, but both qualitative and quantitative courses must be taken, in addition to advanced research methods.

Cognate

• 24 credits
• The cognate area is expected to be an area of professional counseling expertise that is generally the CACREP program area (such as marriage and family, clinical, school, student affairs) defining the expertise of the student.

Counselor Education and Supervision Doctoral-Level Courses

• 24 credits
• These courses are generally taught seminar-style and include topics such as theories of supervision, advanced counseling and human development theories, principles of practice in core counseling areas, CACREP accreditation, teaching pedagogy in counselor education, multicultural issues, social change theory, and advocacy.

Dissertation Research

• 24 credits
• See the Doctoral handbook for more information.

Elective Course

• 3 credits
• A graduate-level 3-credit hour course of an elective in research/statistics or cognate, as approved by the doctoral advisor.

Program Faculty

The program faculty includes:

• Carly Boren, Ph.D., NCC, Assistant Professor of Counselor Education
• Stacey Carrillo, Ph.D., NCC, Teaching Associate Professor of Counselor Education
• Kristina DePue, Ph.D., NCC, Associate Professor of Counselor Education
• Adrienne Graham, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, Assistant Professor of Counselor Education
• Monty Minter, Ph.D., CPC, Lecturer II of Counselor Education and Clinic Director of the Downing Counseling Clinic

Career Opportunities

Examples of jobs through which students who graduate from the program may continue their careers include:

• Counselor education assistant professors working in teaching and research institutions
• Agency directors and assistant directors
• School counseling leadership roles