Alumni News
ODU Doctoral Counseling Program Continues to Receive Recognition
Monday, February 08, 2010
The ODU counseling program didn't offer a Ph.D. until the spring of 2007. In the short amount of time on campus, the program and its students are impressing leaders in the field nationally.
Kelly Emelianchik, a doctoral candidate in counseling at Old Dominion University, was named the 2010 recipient of the Glen E. Hubele National Graduate Student Award from the American Counseling Association (ACA). The award recognizes outstanding scholarship by an ACA student member.
"The ACA only gives out one per year, so this is a huge accomplishment that recognizes Kelly's scholarship and trajectory for a strong research agenda," said Danica Hays, ODU counseling graduate program director.
The title of Emelianchik's dissertation is "Initial Development and Validation of the Teen Screen for Dating Violence." This work originates from a thorough content analysis of available screening and assessment tools across public and mental health disciplines that Emelianchik published in 2009 in a top-tier counseling journal, Hays noted.
"Kelly saw a real need to appropriately assess dating violence to prevent and intervene in emotional, physical and sexual abuse," Hays added. "This dissertation will have real, practical value to practitioners everywhere."
Emelianchik, who is expected to graduate this spring, will be honored at the ACA Annual Conference & Exposition in Pittsburgh in March.
Also recently, a team of graduate students from Old Dominion University's counselor education program captured first place in the doctoral student category of the recent American Counseling Association (ACA) Graduate Student Ethics Competition. Teams from ODU took second place in the event for the last two years.
In a letter to ODU Professor Ed Neukrug, Stephanie Dailey of the ACA's Office of Ethics and Professional Standards wrote: "Becky Michel, Joe Davis, Anita Neuer and Jodi Slaughter showed exemplary work in critically analyzing the case scenario and created an exceptional ethical decision making plan to respond to the ethical situation."
The scenario involved an elementary school counselor who was seeking professional guidance regarding her ethical responsibility to share confidential information with her principal about students and parents of students she counsels.
"The team developed a complex, thoughtful and scholarly response to a very difficult ethical dilemma. Bravo to them for their hard work on this," said Neukrug, professor of counseling and human services, who served as the liaison between the ODU team and the ACA. "For the past two years the team has come in second place, and last year the team missed first place by one point. So we obviously are doing quite well."
Added Danica Hays, ODU associate professor and counseling graduate program director, "ACA ethics teams generally reflect 'the best of the best' counselor trainees, and I am quite pleased that the rigorous work of our students is being recognized at a national level."
Learn more about ODU's graduate program in counseling.