February 18, 2014
Counselor Education Earns CACREP Accreditation
The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), a national accrediting body for professional preparation programs within academic institutions, has granted accreditation to the following master of science programs in the Department of Higher, Adult, and Counselor Education (HACE) in the College of Education:
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- School Counseling
- Student Affairs and College Counseling
The decision to pursue CACREP accreditation began approximately seven years ago when Counselor Education faculty determined that for long-term sustainability, and for the benefit of students within the program, it would be critical to attain such recognition.
“We are extremely excited about earning this distinction,” said Dr. Scott Glass, interim department chair of HACE. “It took an incredible amount of work on behalf of our faculty, mostly done for little or no personal gain. We were successful because of the hard work of a few people who believed in the importance of this task.”
A number of benefits result from having a program seek accreditation including:
- Provides program enhancement through a thorough self-assessment
- Stimulates self-review and self-directed improvement
- Improves the quality of students seeking enrollment in program
- Demonstrates a commitment to meeting the highest academic standards
- Additional licensure and career benefits
Many thanks go out to all who participated and helped the Counselor Education program achieve the CACREP accreditation. In particular, the Counselor Education program would like to recognize the efforts of Dr. Kylie Dotson-Blake. She took on the responsibility of guiding the program through the process, and the program would not have experienced this level of success without her work. It was a team effort that should benefit students and stakeholders for many years to come.