Faculty who practice what they teach

From its beginnings in 1966, a CHEP graduate program for those interested in careers working with college students has offered a distinctive mix of theory and practice that remains its hallmark today.

The program, in which students earn a master of education degree with concentrations in either college counseling or student affairs in higher education, is expecting one of its highest application rates ever this spring.

"Prospective students recognize that the amount of supervised professional experience we offer is rare for a master's program," says coordinator John Bishop, associate vice president for counseling and student development and associate professor of individual and family studies. Another important feature of the program, he says, is that its teachers are also practitioners.

Teaching graduate students "keeps us on our toes" as counselors, Bishop says. "The chances are that if it's a theory that has attracted some kind of attention in the field, I've probably tried it and have some working knowledge of the difference between the theory and the practice. For our students, that introduces an element of reality into the classroom and keeps the curriculum up to date."

Eric Norman, a 1999 graduate of the program with a concentration in student affairs, is assistant director of UD's student centers, where he works with fraternities, sororities, student organizations and leadership development. He says having had professors who also practiced what they were teaching was especially valuable.

"Getting the experience from the practitioners instead of reading it from a book makes an extraordinary difference," he says.

The students not only learn in the classroom, but they also apply what they are learning through assistantships and internships.

Bishop says the assistantships and internships, both on and off campus, allow students to perform the full duties of the job. For example, interns in the counseling center meet with real students, and those working as judicial officers make decisions in real cases.

"The strength of this program has always been the amount of supervised practical experience that students get," Bishop says.

Tom Sebok, a 1976 graduate of the program with a concentration in college counseling, says the real-world experience he got from the assistantships and internships opened the doors for him to reach his position as director of the Ombuds Office at the University of Colorado. There, he helps students, staff and faculty in managing and resolving conflicts and complaints informally by providing mediation and meeting individually with people to help them examine their options.

Previously, Sebok worked at three community colleges. The graduate degree in college counseling, he says, "set the stage for what I could do."

The most valuable skill he learned as a graduate student was how to listen, he says, adding that he uses that skill in his job every day and also found it useful in co-authoring a book on ombuds work.

"I got such a strong foundation of counseling skills, and specifically listening skills, that it really helped me in writing and in influencing other ombuds," Sebok says.

Bishop emphasizes that the effectiveness of the program is tied to its size, with 20-25 students typically enrolled. "Part of the reason we keep the enrollment somewhat limited is that we want everyone to be able to have those intensive internships," he says.

The program, which began in what was then the College of Education, has found its niche in CHEP's Department of Individual and Family Studies, where it moved about five years ago, Bishop says.

"A number of faculty in that department focus on developmental psychology, individuals and families, which is a lot of what we do as well," he says. "It's a good fit for us."

-Kelly Housen, AS 2004