Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology

We also offer courses of study leading to the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree and to the Specialist Certificate. The M.A., a generalist program, emphasizes the practice of counseling and focuses on interviewing, counseling theory, career development, multicultural counseling, testing, and consultation. The Specialist program builds on the M.A. degreešs generalist preparation in counseling but requires additional specific competencies in related areas. Conceptually, all of our programs are built on a synthesis of social, behavioral, and developmental approaches to human growth. This leads to a broad course of study, but one with strong, unifying themes. We use many different instructional approaches including video and computer technology. Regardless of the approach or the particular medium, our overall philosophy is that theoretical concepts are best taught when integrated with practice.

In addition to our own faculty, we involve professors and staff from other academic units and agencies in teaching foundation and supporting courses. This is one of the ways we tap the outstanding resources of the University of Minnesota, a nationally recognized center of graduate education and research. In the broadest sense, our curriculum includes a variety of experiences, both structured and unstructured, that lead to professional competency. For this reason, we regard placement for practica, skills components, and internship; informal peer and faculty associations; and other developmental experiences as equally critical components in a studentšs development.