A Year in the Life of the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling

by R. Steve McCallum, department head

Every year is eventful in the life of the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling (EPC), and 2004–2005 was no different. Even though many aspects of departmental life were routine—students attended classes, professors taught, students and professors produced scholarship, staff members kept the whole enterprise moving along by facilitating interactions and moving paperwork, etc.—many significant non-routine events occurred. Some of the more salient are described below.

We began the year by welcoming two graduate programs to EPC—higher education administration and college student personnel, directed by Grady Bogue and Norma Mertz respectively. Their students join those from our programs in adult education, applied educational psychology, collaborative learning, counselor education, mental health counseling, rehabilitation counseling, school counseling, and school psychology. The addition of these two programs brought the number of full-time tenure-track faculty positions in EPC to 22. In addition, the department supports four full-time research professors in rehabilitation counseling. Currently there are seven full-time staff members.

Contributing significantly to the “good news category” is our search for three new faculty members: one in higher education administration/college student personnel, one in mental health counseling, and one in rehabilitation counseling. Dr. Terrell Strayhorn is a new assistant professor and faculty member in the college student personnel program. The new faculty member in mental health counseling, yet to be hired, will replace William Conwill, who left at the end of last year. We are also still searching for a faculty member in rehabilitation counseling. During the past year our programs in counselor education (including mental health counseling and school counseling) and rehabilitation counseling were evaluated successfully by their accrediting bodies, CACREP and CORE respectively.

EPC faculty and students were extremely productive during the 2004–05 academic year. The department produced 10 books, over 40 refereed articles, almost 100 national/international presentations, and over 20 book chapters. Three faculty members served as editors of professional journals, and 15 served their professional organizations in leadership roles at the national, regional, and state levels. Several faculty members were recognized by their organizations for exemplary service or scholarship at the national level, and five were invited to present at international venues, including Canada, United Kingdom, Thailand, Denmark, Australia, and Greece. One of our programs was ranked third in the country based on its faculty research productivity. And as you have probably heard, the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences moved up to 33 rd in the latest version of the U.S. News & World Report rankings. We like to believe that EPC helped make that improvement happen. In summary, 2004–05 was the most productive year ever for the department.

During the past year faculty and students collaborated to institute a number of curricular changes designed to better prepare our graduates. There are plans afoot to develop even more innovative curricular changes and program initiatives (e.g., an interdisciplinary higher education Ph.D. track, enhanced practical training within an in-house clinic). Student enrollments are robust, and our student population is becoming stronger and more diverse each year. Currently, we have students from China, Argentina, South Korea, Russia, Portugal, and Bulgaria. With the combined effort of our students, faculty, staff, and graduates, we anticipate even more significant achievements in the months and years ahead in teaching, research, scholarship, service, and outreach.

 

Contact CEHHS

335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718