Counselor Education and Supervision Faculty, Doctoral Students Present Research at Conference

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Counselor Education and Supervision faculty and doctoral students sponsored a breakfast before the keynote presentation.

Counselor education and supervision faculty and doctoral students from the University of Arkansas delivered eight presentations recently at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision national conference in Seattle.

The bi-annual conference highlights research and best practices in supervision and in the training of counselors and the preparation of counseling faculty.

"ACES is the premier national conference devoted to presenting research about counselor education and supervision," said Kristin Higgins, U of A program coordinator. "It was great to see such an extensive involvement in the conference of our faculty, doctoral students, and alumni."

Fifteen U of A faculty members and doctoral students attended the conference. The faculty organized an alumni dinner for over 30 doctoral alumni, current students, and faculty on the first night of the conference, and the program sponsored a breakfast before the keynote on behalf of the U of A.

Students and faculty also presented on a wide variety of counseling topics at the conference, including three talks focused on training effective counseling supervisors. Higgins, Erin Popejoy and Anthony Vajda and doctoral student Evan Smarinsky led roundtable discussions on the topic. Doctoral students Brittany Massengale, Amy Broadwater and Margaret Hindman presented with professor Kristi Perryman on the topic of wellness-based interventions for supervisors.

Recent alumni Chris Carver, Justin Cook, and Anthony Suarez joined U of A professors Justin Adams and Anthony Vajda in an 80-minute panel discussion regarding the faculty job search and experiences of first-year assistant professors.

Doctoral student Cian Brown offered advice for doctoral students about building their teaching expertise.

U of A professor David Christian presented about how study abroad experiences can assist with nature-based counseling. Christian takes students to New Zealand every year. Christian also joined Higgins, professor Brent Williams and doctoral student Timothy Schoonover, to offer best practices in merging counseling and rehabilitation counseling programs based off of the success at the U of A.

"It was obvious that the University of Arkansas was present at a national level," said alumnus Rick Balkin (PhD '03), who is a professor at the University of Mississippi, "and that is great to see."