Statement of Objectives

I am currently in my seventh year at NAU: the fifth year as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, with two additional years as a Visiting Assistant Professor at NAU. I am submitting these materials to document my work in the areas of teaching, research, and service, with the objective of attaining tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.

Goals related to Student-Related Responsibilities

I have reached for opportunities to experience the broad student base we serve: from distance learning through Web and ITV, to classes taught to full time students on the Mountain Campus, to the isolated village of Kayenta, to cohort students in Phoenix and Tucson—all have taught me, even as I instructed them.

Because my primary responsibility was to establish and maintain the EPS school counseling programs in the Tucson and Phoenix areas, I have challenged myself to deliver a program equal in rigor and quality to that offered on the mountain campus.

In addition, the very nature of the Distance Sites means that I wanted to create a virtual center of learning, strong in synergy, encompassing community without the “bricks and mortar” of the Mountain Campus. While a challenge, this has been possible through the diversity and strength of the student body I serve.

Goals related to Scholarship

Although I had a doctorate in Counseling Psychology and had started my professional career, many years ago, as a secondary English teacher, the field of school counseling was a new one to me. The first several years at NAU were a scramble to catch up as I stretched to learn as much as I could, as fast as I could, about the CCBG model, crisis counseling in the schools, vocational guidance at the secondary level, play therapy, resiliency of at-risk youth, attachment disorder, and other specialized areas of counseling related to the school setting. I read, researched, and connected with practicing school counselors and teachers—those directly involved with aiding students.

To these ends, my initial research was directed in the area of techniques useful to school counselors, e.g., email mentoring techniques, writing an effective letter of recommendation, and the basics of setting up a school counseling web site. I surveyed school counselors across the state on issues concerning goals, triumphs and frustrations, in order to understand the population that I would be serving.

A second strong interest developed in the area of diversity. I wanted to know how to understand those different from myself, and how to effectively teach my students the same levels of acceptance. Thus, a second body of research developed dealing with multicultural sensitivity and awareness.

Finally, a third love emerged, one that I had not even anticipated when I took the position: the cutting edge of distance learning: I learned how to write raw html, developed Web courses, and started to research the effectiveness of Web vs. ITV vs. blended courses—with broadband just around the corner.

Goals related to Service

I recognized coming into the educational psychology family that it would be important to create connections with the academic community at the Mountain Campus as well as faculty in Statewide offices. For that reason, I volunteered for every committee and service position that would have me!

It was particularly enlightening, for example, to become a part of the Teacher Admissions Committee, because I then learned our issues and challenges with teacher candidates. I have also enjoyed my association with the campus wide community through the Grants Committee, because I get to read and share ideas with a range of individuals from backgrounds in science and forestry and other areas sometimes far a field from counseling

Was it Erikson who said a successful navigation of the later stages in life involved giving back what you had received? I find that the community service that I have done—working with homeless children at Thomas J. Pappas school, or fledgling chaplains at the hospital, or rural school counselors needing support and counsel—has been truly rewarding.

Professional service is another means of giving back, and I have enjoyed collaborating with others in the same counseling field as I edit texts and journal articles, attend professional conferences, and work on steering committees to further the growth of our profession.

Research Plan

I have several programmatic research studies in progress—for example, for the past two years I have been working with the rural school counselors in Pinal County to develop and implement a 360 degree counseling outcomes accountability program—to date we have gathered data from teachers, parents, principals, and students themselves on about 8000 recipients. This data has been analyzed (see scholarship artifacts) and will be submitted for publication later this year.

For the past five years I have been gathering pre- and post-knowledge surveys on our multicultural counseling students. This is presently in submission to the 2004 American Education Research Association, and I anticipate it also will be converted to an article in the near future.

My interests remain strong in the areas of multicultural counseling and outcomes assessment for school counseling. I would like to build on these and also continue research into the area of distance learning—I want to be able to document how we can incorporate the Internet into our educational venue so that students get the absolute best of all methods of teaching.

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that students bring different life experiences to the classroom: their unique set of fears and apprehensions, their own ability to absorb the information presented to them in the classroom, their special styles of learning. I have been privileged to work with graduate level students in a cohort environment—that means I get to know each student personally. Over the two-to-three year period a cohort is in existence, I sometimes consult with pregnant mothers to coordinate assignments around scheduled birth dates, get introduced to the newborn (somehow they always show up for a visit, sooner or later!), counsel with students who are thinking of dropping out because of death or divorce in the family. There is no greater reward for me than to see them walk down the aisle in December or May, with cameras flashing and families beaming.

I have faith in the competence and intellect of my students to read the textbook. Thus, I believe my place in the classroom is to give value-added, to use myself as an instrument to facilitate learning. If I can smooth the way, expecting the best of our working students while acknowledging and validating the difficulties they face, then their natural abilities and enthusiasms will surface, and learning will occur.

Overview of Accomplishments

I have been busy—this portfolio of artifacts speaks to my productivity. As I reflect back over these past years, several events rise in my mind as special accomplishments. For example:

During my first years at NAU, I enjoyed working with Bill Martin, then Department Chair, and Gene Moan, who advised students at the Mountain Campus AND kept the initial cohort in Paradise Valley going. Bill and I collaborated in the design and execution of the first distance practicum lab. And, although it was a difficult, trial-by-fire experience, I relished the close scrutiny that Ramona Mellott, Bill Martin, and I came under when that same system was examined closely by the CACREP accreditation committee, and passed.

I am proud of the mentoring I have done with junior faculty—I was the first full-time faculty member hired to establish and teach the counseling programs off the mountain campus. It has been gratifying to help hire the next five faculty members, and to mentor them through the often-times bewildering policies and procedures which govern statewide faculty activities.

I am extremely pleased that over 100 of the students that I have instructed, advised, and supervised are now practicing school counselors in schools all over the state. I continually hear from their Department Chairs and Superintendents about the excellent job they are doing. These former graduates of the NAU School Counseling program are now acting as supervisors for the new cohort members as they enter the internship phase.

I have appreciated the opportunity to work with fine individuals in the design and implementation of new teaching techniques—several Internet courses, teaching by ITV, development of policies and procedures, Web conferences, and journal articles.

A particular highlight for me was my experience teaching counseling courses to the Navajo students at Kayenta this summer. As we wrestled with the vagaries of multicultural and vocational counseling, I learned along with my students as they shared their close ties to the land, the struggles to integrate technology with traditional ways, the differences among “old” Navajo and “new” Navajo traditions, including spiritual encounters and cultural mores. It was an unforgettable experience.

Career Goals and Vision for the Future

I anticipate the opening of opportunities that will come from promotion and tenure. I enjoy working with faculty and administration to determine future directions for NAU, and some of the committee and task forces working in this area require tenured faculty status.

I have worked with students on several research projects over the years. I would like to take a more formal role introducing students to the excitement of data-based research, with the ultimate goal of converting more experiences to conference presentations and subsequent publication.

I want to continue to be responsive to the needs of my students, to allow them to grow into the best counselors they can be.