School Counseling Program

Annual Report

The 2006-2007 Year in Review
The University of Tennessee School Counseling Program

The school counseling faculty at the University of Tennessee continue to provide leadership, advocacy, and strive to train our students to meet the demands of the school counseling profession. This academic year reflects many changes that were made to prepare our students for the trends the school counseling profession is currently experiencing.

Three individuals joined our faculty, and their combined expertise served as a catalyst for curricular changes and policy modifications. Dr. Shawn Spurgeon, an assistant professor of mental health counseling, joined Dr. Jeff Cochran, associate professor and mental health program coordinator. In addition, Dr. Melinda Gibbons joined us as an assistant professor of school counseling.

Curriculum and policy changes include the admission of students once a year, and students are now admitted to the program in February for the following fall semester. After much discussion, COUN 480 Interviewing and Counseling Techniques, is now a required course in the curriculum. In addition, a fieldwork experience that requires school counseling students to perform a number of activities in the schools has been incorporated into one of the core curricular offerings. This change provides students with a greater understanding of the school environment, and to allow school counseling students to interact with K-12 students prior to entering their clinical experiences. The Tennessee State Department of Education adopted this mandate in response to legislation that stated a teaching background prior to becoming certified as a school counselor was no longer necessary.

Professional development activities have been conducted for students and other counseling professionals in the Knoxville area. The Smoky Mountain Counseling Association held the 1 st annual counselor’s conference at the University Center in conjunction with the Educational Psychology and Counseling Department as a co-sponsor. The conference was held again on Sept. 29, 2007. In addition, the counseling programs held a suicide awareness workshop required for all counseling students. Interested community members were invited to attend. This workshop served as a fund- raiser for our counseling honorary society, the Upsilon Theta Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota.

We continually evaluate our program and students to ensure a quality curriculum while meeting the standards of CACREP, our accrediting agency, and the standards established by the Tennessee Department of Education. If you would like information about our program, please contact Dr. Jeannine Studer at 865-974-0693 or by e-mail: jstuder@utk.edu

 

 

Updated 10/03/2007

Contact EPC

525 Jane & David Bailey Education Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-3452

Phone: 865-974-8145
Fax: 865-974-0135