Counseling

Counseling Program Ranked #1

In previous studies the Counseling Program was ranked #5 and #6

Core Faculty

 

Senior Lecturers

Affiliated-Contributing Faculty Members

  • Jon Brandon -- Student Counseling Center Psychologist and Training Director
  • Mark Becker -- Student Counseling Center Psychologist

Affiliated Unit

Overview and Philosophy

Iowa State University offers a Ph.D. degree in counseling psychology. This doctoral degree is designed for students who intend to pursue careers in academic or applied settings. The American Psychological Association has fully and continuously accredited the counseling psychology program at ISU since 1973.

The counseling psychology program at ISU is committed to a scientist-practitioner model that accords dual emphases to the acquisition of scientific knowledge and research skills, along with the development of professional competencies in counseling, assessment, teaching, and consultation. This commitment to science and practice is reflected in an integrated curriculum that involves students in research, classroom instruction, and applied activities starting in their first semester and continuously thereafter. Consistent with our counseling psychology identity, the program places emphasis upon counseling activities that maximize strengths, enhance development, and foster strong coping skills, while also providing education and training in psychopathology and remediation.

A major emphasis in all aspects of our training program is a commitment to issues of multiculturalism and diversity. The faculty is dedicated to infusing diversity issues throughout the curriculum. Courses, seminars and practica are designed to increase awareness, tolerance and respect for individual differences and to promote sensitivity to the influence of culture, religion, gender, and sexual orientation on persons and their behavior.

Among the many strengths of this program are opportunities for active research mentoring, acquisition of teaching competencies, and exposure to diverse practica experiences. Many opportunities exist to develop the competencies, skills, and experience necessary for a career as a scholar in an academic or other research setting, or as a scientifically based practitioner in an applied setting. The specialization in counseling psychology maintains flexibility in the development of programs of study, enabling students to tailor their programs to their specific interests and aspirations.

Research Preparation

 Located in a research-focused psychology department, the counseling specialization emphasizes continuous involvement in research and encourages collaborative research endeavors with faculty and students. A new Certificate in Quantitative Psychology is now available for Ph.D. students in the Department of Psychology.

For a list of recent faculty and student collaborative research publications - click here.

For a list of recent student presentations - click here.

Counseling Preparation

The counseling faculty highly value counseling training and provide collaborative involvement of faculty as instructors, supervisors, and co-therapists. The purpose of the counseling training is to help the students integrate and apply their academic knowledge and to develop the skills necessary to understand and help clients. The program's practica involve progressive exposure to closely supervised counseling activities with a range of client concerns. The initial work with clients occurs in the department during the first semester of the first year, and continues into the second semester. It involves seeing carefully selected clients under close supervision provided by faculty and advanced graduate students. Successful completion of this practicum enables students to move to the ISU Student Counseling Service (SCS) for practica during their second and third years, where they work with clients under the supervision of SCS psychologists and interns in a multifaceted campus mental health agency--one that offers its own selective, APA accredited internship. By their fourth year, students typically are placed in off-campus practica at a variety of community agencies such as community and VA hospitals, outpatient clinics, correctional facilities, child and adolescent counseling and residential centers, and group psychological private practice settings. The counseling psychology program’s ongoing training relationships with the Student Counseling Service and eight training sites external to the university result in truly diverse individual counseling, group counseling, assessment, and consultation opportunities for students.

Example Counseling Practica and Counseling Assistantship Opportunities. (pdf)

Teaching Preparation

For students interested in obtaining specific training and experiences in the teaching of psychology the Department of Psychology offers Psych 633, Teaching of Psychology. Psych 633 generally is a prerequisite for students who wish to be the sole instructor of a class. Opportunities to teach classes are generally available during the academic year and summer sessions on a competitive basis.

Professional Training

Effective mastery of knowledge in psychology, immersion in research, and the development of research and counseling competencies require a full-time, continuous commitment to graduate study. Completion of this program typically involves four to five years of full-time study plus a required one-year, full-time internship, for the beginning student without prior graduate study.

All counseling students are required to take courses in counseling theories and techniques, assessment, vocational counseling, ethics, psychopathology, and multicultural counseling. Students must also complete at least four semesters of practica and a one-year full-time internship. Beyond these requirements, students may personalize their programs of study through the addition of specific practica and courses in psychology or in related departments (e.g., Human Development and Family Studies, Sociology, Statistics).

Pre-doctoral Internship

A 12-month pre-doctoral internship is a required component of all doctoral programs in counseling and clinical psychology. The internship typically is undertaken in the last year of the doctoral program. It commences after completion of all coursework and preliminary examinations, admission to doctoral candidacy, and the development of an advisory committee approved dissertation proposal.

Internship acquisition is a nationally competitive process, and our students have been highly successful in obtaining select APA-approved internships located in a variety of settings throughout the country. Doctoral students from this program typically receive multiple internship offers and recent doctoral candidates have been placed in prestigious university counseling centers (Wisconsin-Madison, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Iowa, Oregon, Southern Illinois, and Iowa State), major veterans administration medical centers (Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh) and well-respected regional mental health service centers (Wichita Internship Consortium).

List of recent student internship placements

Resources

Iowa State University and the Department of Psychology have excellent resources available for graduate students that support and foster the counseling program's emphasis on science and practice. A full spectrum of psychology faculty expertise, courses, and seminars, as well as methodological, computer, and statistical resources exist to guide and mentor the student. The counseling program maintains its own suite of video equipped observation rooms for training and research in counseling interactions. In addition, ongoing collaborative relationships with the Student Counseling Service, a multifaceted mental health services and training agency, and many other community agencies provide numerous opportunities for student learning and the development of counseling skills.

Student Characteristics

Successful applicants in counseling psychology are intellectually and academically talented (for the most recently admitted group (N=10) Median: GPA 3.50, GRE Verbal 560, GRE Quantitative 700, Writing 5.0, and GRE Advanced-Psychology 690. Students admitted to this program are highly motivated and committed to a career in counseling psychology as evidenced by participation in undergraduate independent studies or research and in volunteer social services endeavors or completion of undergraduate practicum placements. They are mature, interpersonally skilled, and have interests and career goals that are congruent with the focus of the program and the interests of faculty. In addition, successful applicants typically have a strong background in psychology, research methods, and statistics. They express interests and commitment to research activities in addition to enthusiasm for counseling practice and an openness to participate in graduate education that fosters awareness and sensitivity to diversity and multicultural perspectives. The program is selective and committed to an intensive training model with a low student-faculty ratio; thus, admissions in counseling psychology are restricted to about 4 or 6 new students each year. Most students enter the program after completion of a bachelor’s degree and some have acquired full-time professional or corporate work experience prior to applying for graduate study. Students with prior masters degrees in psychology or closely related areas will also be considered for admission and in recent years about one fifth of the entering students have a prior graduate degree. Minority students are especially encouraged to apply for graduate study in counseling psychology.

Funding

Incoming counseling psychology graduate students are offered a graduate assistantship, which is usually a teaching or research assistantship within the Department of Psychology. Advanced students also have the opportunity for assistantships at the Student Counseling Service, Student Mental Health Service, and Student Disability Resources. The basic stipend for half-time (20 hours/week nine-month) graduate assistantships is $12,200. The half-time graduate assistantship also covers the students’ full tuition, and provides health and dental insurance. Opportunities are also available for students to earn additional assistantships and teaching opportunities in the summer months on a competitive basis. In addition, all students are given a $500 expense account during their first year to cover books, research, and travel costs.

The Graduate College also administers two types of Professional Advancement Grants, which provide funds for graduate students to conduct research and travel to local or national conferences to present their research. The Psychology Department also offers up to $300 a year for student presenting at a National Conference to help cover the expenses. The department also offers the Borgen/Campbell award, which awards one student each year up to $2,500 to travel overseas to present at an International conference.

The Department of Psychology also offers Research Enhancement Awards. The purpose of these awards is to support highly creative and important research projects by graduate students. The total number of awards given will very from year to year though generally one or two $500 awards are available each year.

The Department of Psychology and the University also offers, on a competitive basis, several Graduate Student Excellence Awards. We believe that it is important to recognize graduate student excellence in the areas of research, teaching and service. The awards include an honorarium in the amount of $100.

Through the Graduate College, the Department also offers, on a competivie basis, the Miller Fellowship (an additional stipend of $5,000 per academic year beyond the standard assistantship package-guaranteed for four years) and the George Washington Carver (GWC) Doctoral Fellowship Program. The program is named to honor George Washington Carver, Iowa State’s first minority student and faculty member. The fellowship allows minority graduate students the opportunity to devote full time to their research and academic development. It is among the university’s most prestigious awards offered to graduate students. To be eligible one must be from an underrepresented minority group (African American, American Indian, or Latino), a U.S. citizen, admitted into a Ph.D. program as a new student, and nominated by that program of study. The length of the fellowship is for three (3) years. After the third year, a regular departmental graduate assistantship will take the place of the fellowship. The annual stipend for the fellowship is $25,000 (fiscal year appointment). In addition, full tuition is covered by the Department.

Job Placement of Recent Graduates

Counseling psychology graduates have, without exception, been successful in securing professional positions commensurate with their education, training, and interests. Recent graduates have obtained employment as faculty members at universities and liberal arts colleges, staff psychologists at university and college counseling services, health professional at other mental health settings including private practice and medical teaching hospitals, and as researchers in test development corporations and medical centers.

List of recent student job placements (pdf)

 Additional Information - Counseling Psychology

Questions about the counseling program may be directed to Dr. David Vogel ( dvogel@iastate.edu )