The North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision honored the UMSL Division of Counseling and Family Therapy with the Outstanding Diversity Award. Division members include (from left) Mark Pope, Jennifer McAfee Maag, M. Lee Nelson, Kelly Yu-Hsin Liao, Susan Kashubeck-West and Angela Coker. Not pictured are R. Rocco Cottone and Brian Hutchison.
Faculty in the Division of Counseling and Family Therapy in the College of Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis take great pride in their many contributions to cultural diversity and social justice. Because of their work, the division received the Outstanding Diversity Award from the North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision last month.
“Not only has the division collectively been a trailblazer in advocating for human rights, social advocacy and cultural competence, it has consistently set the standard for other counseling programs around the nation to follow,” stated the NCACES board in the award letter.
The division is made up of Mark Pope, professor and chair; Angela Coker, associate professor; R. Rocco Cottone, professor; Brian Hutchison, assistant professor; Susan Kashubeck-West, professor; Jennifer McAfee Maag, clinical assistant professor; Kelly Yu-Hsin Liao, assistant professor; and M. Lee Nelson, visiting professor.
“Receiving this important award is just affirmation of the high quality and focus of our program here at UMSL,” Pope said. “Our emphasis on social justice and cultural diversity permeates our programs and this award shows the commitment that we have to give back to our community here in St. Louis. We hope that our school and community counseling graduates leave here with an even stronger drive to help those who are less fortunate in our community.”
The Division of Counseling and Family Therapy offers both master’s and doctoral degrees. The master’s of education programs in community counseling, school counseling and community counseling with an emphasis in career counseling and the doctor of education in counselor education and supervision/doctor of philosophy in counseling are fully accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.
It’s one of only three programs in the Missouri and the only doctoral program in the entire state that is CACREP accredited, the only masters program in the St. Louis metropolitan region accredited, only one of nine programs in the entire United States that has been awarded CACREP accreditation in career counseling, and only one of 15 programs in the entire Midwest with a CACREP accredited doctoral program in counselor education and supervision.
Academic Analytics ranked the Division of Counseling and Family Therapy fourth nationally of all counselor education programs in the U.S. in 2009.
NCACES is a regional association of counselor educators and supervisors with members representing 13 states. The Outstanding Diversity Award is given annually to honor significant multicultural contributions to the profession of counseling, counselor education or supervision.
