Kristin Higgins has earned the Arkansas Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors Rosenthal Award, given annually to a counselor educator whose contributions to the profession exemplify the highest standards of the discipline.

The association's mission is to facilitate interactions and interrelationships among counselor educators and supervisors and to improve the quality of preparation, placement, supervision and professional development of counselors.

Higgins has taught counseling at the U of A College of Education and Health Professions for more than 17 years and has extensive experience training clinical mental health, school and rehabilitation counselors. She supervises counselors in training in mental and behavioral health settings and is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor in Arkansas.

Before becoming a counselor educator, she was a mental health clinician in a school-based clinical mental health setting and a lead therapist in a residential treatment facility for adolescents. 

As a counselor educator, Higgins has published numerous articles and presented at the international, national, regional, state and local levels each year. She has chaired 25 student dissertation committees and has been a member of an additional 28 dissertation committees. She has also served as chair and adviser for numerous students at the Ph.D. and M.S. levels. Higgins has also been the principal investigator on four training grants that provide funding for students to earn an M.S. in counseling. To date, she has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on three rehabilitation (RSA) training grants providing funding to over 50 M.S. students interested in working with individuals with psychiatric disabilities. She is also principal investigator on a Health Resources and Services Administration grant that has provided $560,000 in stipend support to M.S. students during their internship experiences at the U of A. This grant provides extra training and support for students working in behavioral health settings. 

Higgins has been highly involved with the Arkansas Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors and has served as the organization's treasurer for nearly 10 years. Prior to that, she served as membership liaison and secretary.

"Dr. Higgins has consistently received positive feedback from her students and supervisees regarding her warmth, knowledge, genuineness and ability to guide students in their journey to becoming counselors," a nomination letter noted.

Higgins was named head of the College of Education and Health Professions' Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders in March. Higgins, an associate professor of counselor education and supervision, joined the faculty in 2006. She has served as a program coordinator since 2016. The RHRC department houses six undergraduate and graduate programs, including adult and lifelong learning, communication sciences and disorders, counselor education and supervision, educational statistics and research methods, higher education, and human resource and workforce development.