Carson-Newman College Master of Science in Counseling
School Counseling Program
History of Program Development and Accomplishments 2007-2011
After several years of decline in the Master of Education in School Counseling Program due to administrative and budgetary constraints, a new momentum began in 2007 to reinvigorate the program. Dr. Carolyn Brewer was hired in August 2007 to develop and grow the program. In August 2008, an additional faculty member, Dr. Mike Bundy, was hired to work with this growing program. Both Dr. Brewer and Dr. Bundy had many years of extensive school
counseling experience at all grade levels. Their goal was to create a program that could become a model for training Professional School Counselors. Together, with the cooperation of the School of Education and the School of Nursing and Behavioral Health, this program has grown and developed into an extremely active and vital part of the Carson-Newman campus and the greater East Tennessee Area. The program is dedicated to recruiting students from diverse backgrounds who have a passion for service, to equipping them with the competencies needed to establish comprehensive, developmental school counseling programs that build collaborative relations within schools and communities, and to providing leadership to advocate for social justice.
After working with the existing program, the two faculty members began the journey of integrating lessons learned from their school counseling experience, research and best practices in counselor education, program possibilities and opportunities for service, and the new
standards for training professional school counselors. During 2008-2009 the School Counseling Graduate Studies Program was reworked to align all components of the program with the
CACREP 2009 Standards. In addition to the 100-hours of practicum and two 300-hours internships, a mini-practicum experience was incorporated into each of the school counseling courses. Courses were added to provide needed information and practice in counseling children in adolescents in diverse settings
The program has been continuously updated and courses augmented throughout 2009- Spring 2011 to implement the latest research recommendations for Professional School Counselor training. The history of the process and the specific accomplishments of the program are included in the following document.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
In March 2008, Dr. Sharon Teets, Dr. Patty Kraft, and Dr. Carolyn Brewer met to discuss the needs of the school counseling program. A detailed list of that process including the resulting move to a new location, the move from the School of Education to the School of Nursing and Behavioral Health to work with the other counseling programs, and the updates and revision of the program to include the Tennessee, CACREP, and NCATE standards for 2009 may be viewed in the linked documents. Click here to view history. As previously stated, during the 2008-09 academic year faculty made significant changes
to the School Counseling Graduate Program in order to align C-N counselor training with CACREP national standards and Tennessee Department of Education licensure
comparative chart of the original course listings and the updated and revised course listings click here. To view all course descriptions and objectives click here.
o Converted three Internship courses that required only 200-hours each into a Practicum course requiring 120-hours and two Internship courses requiring 300-hours.
o Created MSC-561 School Orientation for Counselors to comply with new state requirements and with 2009 CACREP standards for school counselor training in classroom management and school culture.
o Created MSC-611 Counseling Children and Adolescents to better equip counselors with specific knowledge and skills to work with children and adolescent populations.
o Created MSC-612 Consultation and Collaboration to equip professional school counselors with skills to work with significant others.
o Created MSC-613 Design and Evaluation of Comprehensive School Counseling Programs to train professional school counselors on current methods of
accountability.
o Added EDUC 561 Effective Home, School, Community Relations with Diverse Populations to enhance skills in working with multicultural students and parents. Faculty with the help of the Graduate Assistant wrote its first handbook for students
entitled Master of Science in Counseling: School Counseling Graduate Program. The handbook serves as a comprehensive guide for students on what to expect and what to do to be successful in our training program. It is revised annually.
Faculty wrote the program’s first handbooks for clinical experience in school counseling. School Counseling Internship Handbook and School Counseling Practicum Handbook are revised annually. The Internship Handbook is used to prepare students for their responsibilities during internship and to train site supervisors for their supervision role during internship. Interns examine their responsibilities during the initial group
supervision class with the C-N supervisor of internship. The C-N Internship Coordinator trains site supervisors individually before they work with interns.
Faculty developed a colorful brochure of the Carson-Newman School Counseling Graduate Program to facilitate publicity of the program and to promote school counseling. Click here to view the brochure.
Faculty designed its first department webpage and had C-N Information Technology staff to link it to the Carson-Newman webpage. Later, we added a Facebook account and populated it with pictures of our students and their accomplishments. Both the webpage and Facebook are available for view.
In April 2009, Carson-Newman provided funding for Dr. Brewer to attend the CACREP Self-Study Training in Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Brewer returned to the CACREP office in July 2009 to further discuss the development of the program.
October 12, 2010, N School Counseling Program held its first annual meeting of the C-N School Counseling Program Advisory Council. The twenty-member group is
composed of six area supervisors, eight school counselors, one business person, and five Carson-Newman representatives. Click here to view program agenda.
In February 2011, C-N School Counseling Program was granted a charter to establish a local chapter of the Chi Sigma Iota, the counseling academic and professional honor society for graduate students. The Carson-Newman chapter is called Chi Nu Upsilon. Click here to view charter certificate.
In April 2011, the C-N School Counseling Program faculty hopes to submit a CACREP Self-Study for review by the fall 2012.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
On October 15, 2008, SCGP faculty conducted a crisis response one-day seminar for all counselors in the Jefferson County School District. The seminar was entitled “Building Lighthouses of Hope: Crisis Response Planning.” Click here to view program cover. During Nov. 2008, SCGP graduate students organized an Academic Well-being Seminar
for C-N undergraduates and presented six breakout sessions. Click here to view flyer. On April 21, 2009, SCGP faculty participated in the C-N School of Education in-service
training program for Carter High School New Teachers by conducting a session entitled “Building Relationships with Students.”
During the 2008-2009 year the SCGP faculty members became charter members of the Community Response Team for Jefferson County Schools and have responded to several calls to support staff and students cope with school crisis events during the time since the original meeting.
SCGP faculty presented an all-day workshop on current trends and methods in counseling children for Blount County school counselors in May 2009.
One faculty member served as board chair of the Ridgeview Psychiatric Center in Oak Ridge.
Both faculty members are active members and leaders in their home church.
C-N School Counseling faculty and students continue to provide service to the college and to area schools. Examples include:
o Sept. 2009 Crisis Response Training for Carson-Newman
o 2010-2011, Carson-Newman School Counseling Faculty continued service on both the Jefferson County Schools crisis response team and the Carson-Newman crisis response team. Dr. Brewer continues to serve on the Jefferson County Schools Mental Health team.
o February 2010 faculty provided suicide prevention training to teachers and staff of Jefferson Middle School.
o October 29, 2010 faculty and graduate students conducted drug awareness and prevention at Rush Strong School.
o Two faculty serve on the Anderson County Schools Community Response Team which met November 2, 2010.
o February 21, 2011 presentation of current research on school counselor accountability models to all Knox County Schools counselors during their in-service program;
o March 22, 2011 conducted classroom guidance activities on cyberbullying at Corryton Elementary School in Knox County Schools,
C-N School Counseling Program co-sponsored the Smoky Mountain Counseling Association Spring Conference at Carson-Newman on March 5, 2011. The C-N ROTC contributed both money and service to the event. Over two hundred twenty area
counselors attended the conference. The C-N School of Education was the location for the interest sessions. Carson-Newman School Counseling faculty and students in
nursing, education, and behavioral health presented papers of research and best practices. Click here to see seminar evaluation.
March 7, 2011, C-N School Counseling Program organized the ACT® Seminar for School Counselors. Seven area school systems allowed counselors to attend. Evaluation results indicate that the presentation by ACT® Southeast Regional Consultant Dr. Joe Dell Brasel was well received. Click here to see seminar evaluation.
Dr. Brewer and six graduate students engaged in service learning projects by working with two schools in Washington, D.C. for one week July 2010. The C-N School Counseling Graduate Program team collected materials for one school’s career information center, provided mentoring for students with disabilities, assisted in classrooms, provided a dinner for persons in a homeless shelter, and prepared disabled adults to participate in Special Olympics events.
C-N School Counseling Program co-sponsored the Smoky Mountain Counseling Association Spring Conference at Carson-Newman on February 27th, 2010. The C-N ROTC and US Army Recruiting Program contributed both money and service to the events. Over two hundred forty counselors and graduate students attended the 2010 conference. The C-N School of Education was the location for the interest sessions. Carson-Newman School Counseling faculty and students were instrumental in the planning and execution of both conferences. Several faculty members from nursing, education, social sciences, behavioral health, and other areas presented at this conference. Click here to see program cover.
Three graduate students and a faculty member will lead two breakout sessions at the Knox County Schools In-service Training for school counselors on February 15, 2010 on cyberbullying.
Two faculty members provided direct crisis response support on December 10, 2009 to an area middle school when a student suddenly died during school hours.
PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
One faculty member presented three breakout sessions at the Tennessee Counseling Association Conference in Memphis in November, 2008.
One faculty member serves as editorial board member of the Tennessee Counseling Association Journal.
One faculty member serves as Professional Development Committee chair for the Tennessee School Counselor Association.
Two counselor educators from C-N presented four interest sessions at the Tennessee Counseling Association Conference in Nashville on November 20-23, 2010. Dr. Brewer sessions were titled: Mastering the High School Puzzle-TSCA High School Counselor Idea Exchange, Mastering the Middle School Puzzle-TSCA Middle School Counselor Idea Exchange, and Mastering the Elementary School Puzzle-TSCA Elementary School Counselor Idea Exchange. Dr. Bundy co-facilitated a panel discussion entitled: Where do School Counselors Fit into the Educational Puzzle?
Two faculty, one graduate student, and three former students presented two interest sessions at the 2011 DOE School Counselor and Administrator Leadership Institute in Murfreesboro on February 7. The titles included: 25 Creative Collaborative Strategies to Invite Success and Building Academic Success with Classroom Management
Techniques.
One faculty member presented at the American Counseling Association Conference in New Orleans on March 26, 2011. Dr. Bundy presented a paper on the research that evaluates a C-N School Counseling course, i.e., MSC-561: School Orientation for Counselors.
Both Dr. Brewer and Dr. Bundy serve in several leadership roles in state professional associations. On the Tennessee Counseling Association Executive Board, Dr. Brewer serves as By-laws chair and Dr. Bundy serves as Ethics Committee chair. On the Tennessee School Counselor Association board, Dr. Brewer serves as the Professional Development chair. On the Tennessee Counseling Association Journal, Dr. Bundy serves as a member of the editorial board. Dr. Brewer serves as the President-Elect of the
Tennessee Association of Counselor Education and Supervision. OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
One SCGP graduate student won the Tennessee Counseling Association Student Research competition Nov. 2008 for her action research on how to build mentoring programs for special needs students in a high school setting.
Eighteen graduate students and two faculty members lead six professional breakout sessions at the Tennessee Counseling Association 2009 Conference in Chattanooga on Nov. 23rd and 24th. These include sessions on Cyber-bullying: Part I and Part II, Relational Aggression, Idea Exchange for Elementary Counselors, Idea Exchange for Middle School Counselors, and Idea Exchange for High School Counselors.
Seven graduate students worked as volunteers at the Tennessee Counseling Association Conference in November, 2009.
Eighteen graduate students and two faculty members participated in the C-N Well-being Seminar Series. They presented four different sessions at the Academic Well-being Seminar on Nov. 19, 2009. Click here to view program guide.
The C-N School Counseling Graduate Studies Program sponsored the Recovery Well-being Seminar for the C-N community on Jan. 21, 2010. School counseling faculty coordinated the event.
November 16, 2010, sixteen School Counseling graduate students presented nine interest sessions at the C-N Academic Well-being Seminar. The topics included: blocking cyber distractions, test prep, work habits, career/major selection, stress control, graduate school selection, and the like. Click here to view program flyer.
Dr. Carolyn Brewer, Director of C-N School Counseling Program, received the 2009 Counselor Educator of the Year award from the Tennessee School Counselor Association and Dr. Mike Bundy, Assistant Professor of Counseling, received this award in 2010. Dr. Brewer and Dr. Bundy also received the Smoky Mountain Counseling Association
Counselor Educator of the Year Award for the corresponding years.
Two faculty and six graduate students will presented three breakout sessions at the 2010 Tennessee Department of Education School Counselor and Administrator Leadership Institute on February 8th at Murfreesboro. One session will be a collaborative effort between C-N School Counseling Program, C-N Educational Leadership, and Jefferson County Schools.
Three interns in school counseling participate in community service learning through the AmeriCorp Foundation and the Bonner Center at C-N. They are working to promote school success for economically disadvantaged students at their respective internship sites.
