UMSL counseling scholar Angela Coker

Angela Coker, assistant professor of counseling and family therapy at UMSL, will participate in a Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program in Brazil this summer.

University of Missouri–St. Louis educator Angela Coker has spent her career focusing on multicultural counseling issues that plague African American women in the United States. This summer she will have the opportunity to expand her expertise and learn about counseling issues facing women in Brazil.

Coker, assistant professor of counseling and family therapy, was selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program to Brazil. She will attend “Land of the Future or of the Present? A historical perspective on Brazil” in July.

She was selected as one of 15 scholars from more than 400 applicants. Coker, the only counseling educator participating, will take part in the 30-day series of lectures, conferences and travel. She will visit five Brazilian states: Bahia, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, the Federal District, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and have the opportunity to tour major cities such as Salvador, Recife, Ouro Preto, Brasilia Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to be a part of this delegate,” she said. “I’m looking forward to exploring Brazil, it’s culture, and learning about the people, the infusion of diversity and how they work together.”

Coker, a resident of Chesterfield, Mo., is an expert in counselor education, African American studies and women’s studies. Her research areas include how race, gender and class issues influence an individual’s perceptions and usage of counseling services.

Once she returns, Coker will incorporate the data she collected into her research agenda, course curriculum, and to make presentations throughout the United States. She will focus on how Brazil handles the social constructs of race, class and gender.

Coker earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Brooklyn College in New York, a master’s degree in counselor education from the University of Wyoming in Laramie and a doctoral degree in educational psychology and counseling from Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Missouri, and a National Certified Counselor.

More information:
coe.umsl.edu/web/faculty/counseling/cokera.cfm

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Jen Hatton

Jen Hatton