Indiana University of Pennsylvania will host the seventh annual School Counselor Professional Development Day on January 8, 2010.
Dr. Vivian Lee, director of counselor advocacy at the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy of the College Board in Washington, D.C., will speak during the event. She will discuss effective school counseling practices taken from schools that received College Board Inspiration Awards.
The event, financially supported by the College of Education and Educational Technology, will be held in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building. There is no registration fee, but pre-registration is requested by January 5, 2010. Interested school counselors may register by calling 724-357-2306.
“IUP is pleased to continue to offer this exceptional professional development experience to school counselors throughout western Pennsylvania,” Dr. Mary Ann Rafoth, dean of the College of Education and Educational Technology, said.
The workshop is being coordinated by the Center for Counselor Training and Services (CCTS), an IUP center that develops professional workshops and training for community and school counseling professionals throughout the region. The center is directed by Dr. John McCarthy, professor of counseling.
Act 48 credits are available at the conclusion of the event. The professional development activity is an event aimed at recognizing and honoring the work of professional school counselors throughout Western Pennsylvania. More than 350 school counseling professionals have attended the annual event during the past four years.
The speaker for the one-day event is Lee, a former teacher, secondary school counselor, director of guidance and counseling, and full-time counselor educator at Old Dominion University and the University of Scranton. She served as membership chair for the Pennsylvania Counseling Association and as a trainer for the Education Trust National Initiative for Transforming School Counseling. She has authored and co-authored articles and book chapters on developing school counseling programs, conflict resolution, and violence and group counseling.
Lee also is a co-director of the NOSCA-CSCOR (National Office for School Counselor Advocacy—Center for School Counseling Outcome Research) Fellows Program. This new national initiative is designed to build a community of young scholars by supporting doctoral-level counseling students who are interested in pursuing dissertations in the area of college-readiness counseling.
Since 2004, she has served as adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Lee worked in public education for twenty-four years before joining the College Board in 2004. She received her master's and doctoral degrees in counseling from the University of Virginia.
More information about the event can be obtained by contacting the CCTS at 724-357-3807 or by e-mail at john.mccarthy@iup.edu.