Mission and Objectives
The Ed.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision is based on a practitioner-scholar model with an emphasis on the individual, couple, family, community, educational, and societal systems. This program is primarily a service-oriented model, but specific emphasis on scholarly writing for the purposes of professional publishing and grant-writing. Congruent with CACREP objectives, the purpose of a Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral degree is to produce advanced clinicians, supervisors, competent researchers, and educators.
Graduates with a doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision at GSU will be prepared to be highly knowledgeable, skilled, dedicated, and ethical professionals, researchers, educators, and practitioners. Our doctoral graduates will provide leadership and expert service that enhances diverse student development in the school, family, community, and cultural contexts that will advance the accountability of counseling services. The counseling faculty at GSU is diverse in our cultural/ethnic backgrounds, as well as our fields of professional certification and licensure. Faculty emphasize the link between child, family, community, school and government agencies in planning multi-systemic interventions that will have the most positive impact on the lives of children and adults, while simultaneously strengthening families and supporting schools in their primary role of educating children.The Ed.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision emphasizes the leadership and advocacy duties of counselors. All counseling students are expected to treat fellow professionals, the public, and clients with respect and advocate for the rights of diverse groups. Advocating for diverse groups can be done at the personal, community, professional, and societal levels. Students are encouraged to advocate at each of these levels.
Learning Objectives of the Ed.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision
Learning experiences beyond the entry-level are required in all of the following content areas:
- theories pertaining to the principles and practices of counseling, career development, group work, systems, and consultation;
- theories and practices of counselor supervision;
- instructional theory and methods relevant to Counselor Education and Supervision;
- competencies required to teach within institutions of higher education;
- pedagogy relevant to current social and cultural issues, including social change theory and advocacy action training;
- design and implementation of quantitative research and methodology, including univariate, multivariate, and single-subject design;
- design and implementation of qualitative research, including grounded theory, ethnographic, and phenomenological methodologies;
- models and methods of assessment and use of data;
- ethical and legal considerations in Counselor Education and Supervision (e.g., the ACA Code of Ethics); and
- the role of racial, ethnic, and cultural heritage, nationality, socioeconomic status, family structure, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual beliefs, occupation, physical and mental status, local, regional, national, international perspective, and equity issues in Counselor Education and Supervision programs.
It is expected that doctoral students will have experiences that are designed to:
- develop an area of professional counseling expertise;
- develop collaborative relationships with program faculty in teaching, supervision, research, professional writing, and service to the profession and to the public;
- foster participation in professional counseling organizations, including the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) and ACA;
- meet criteria for appropriate credentials
- promote scholarly counseling research; and
- enhance technical competence.
