Program Information The Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of Iowa has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1980 (APA Committee on Accreditation, 750 1st Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002-4242. Phone 202/336-5000). Our primary aim is to train students in both the science and practice of counseling psychology. Because we are a doctoral program, no masters degree is offered. The program has a long history of faculty and student achievement. Our faculty members are committed to excellence in teaching, research, and service, and they are among the national leaders in the field of counseling psychology. Our students have gone on to a variety of positions nationwide. They are contributing to many areas of the field. The College of Education is also rich in history with a wealth of achievements. This section will provide beneficial information concerning (a) the College of Education, (b) the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, and (c) the Counseling Psychology Program. We hope that this information will be useful to you and that you will contact us for additional information. Specific information for applying to our program is located in the Prospective Students area.
|
||||||||||||||
 |
The College TodayThe College of Education has four divisions: (a) Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Student Development; (b) Curriculum and Instruction; (c) Educational Policy and Leadership Studies; (d) and Psychological and Quantitative Foundations. Approximately 1,000 undergraduate and 900 graduate students are enrolled in 36 College programs. |
| (Lindquist
Center) |
|
| The mission of the College is to promote teaching, research, and service to help address educational needs as they arise in different settings. While the primary focus is on preparing students for careers as teachers and administrators in K-12 and postsecondary schools, faculty and students are also actively engaged in exploring and finding solutions to education-based problems in daycare centers, businesses, industrial settings, counseling centers, and hospitals. The faculty is dedicated to creating, preserving, and disseminating new knowledge that can meet these needs and solve these problems. For a personal note from the Dean of the College. Return to top of page. |
|
Graduate Study in the College
The College prides itself on its high-quality graduate programs.
It has been recognized as one of the top twenty graduate colleges
of education in the United States. Graduate students have
many opportunities to work with faculty mentors on research,
teaching, and service projects. For excellent students, a
number of teaching and research assistantships, fellowships,
and scholarships are available each year. The Iowa Testing
Programs, the Center for Evaluation and Assessment, and the
Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development
offer graduate students a variety of experiences, including
practica and research assistantships.
Return to top of page.
The Department of Psychological and Quantitative
Foundations
The Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations is one of four departments housed within the College of Education. Psychological and Quantitative Foundations offers programs in five areas:
- Counseling Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- School Psychology
- Educational Measurement and Statistics
All programs share two general goals: to help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively in settings that require the application of psychological and quantitative principles; and to extend knowledge and understanding of the teaching/learning process as it occurs in a variety of designs.
Retrun to the top of page.
Special Facilities and Resources in
the College of Education
- For all Counseling Psychology students, the first practicum
is a training clinic at Iowa's
University Counseling Service (UCS; an APA-approved
internship site). Offering extroardinary supervision and
guidance, the UCS ensures that students will receive a broad
training in different treatment modalities with university
clientele.
- The Education
Technology Center provides:
- Computer Resource Laboratory that contains networked microcomputers and terminals linked to the University's network. The lab is used by faculty and students for research and instruction.
- The Video Production Laboratory consists of a 2,000-square-foot television facility and an audio recording studio. The lab is used for instruction and to produce instructional programs.
- The Media Laboratory houses a variety of instructional equipment and facilities for students and faculty to develop skills in the design and production of instructional materials.
- Iowa Center for Assistive Technology and Educational Resources (ICATER) to aid students with disabilities and provide hands-on training and evaluation of assistive technology for students, educators, and counselors throughout the community and the state.
- The Curriculum Laboratory provides materials primarily for students and faculty interested in teacher education. It houses approximately 20,000 elementary and secondary textbooks, trade books, reference books, courses of study, bibliographies, and non-print media.
- The Computer Research Laboratory is a learning research facility in which 10 networked Macintosh Power PC microcomputers are available for simultaneous testing of research participants.
- The Office of Assessment and Evaluation provides consulting services on campus and across the nation in assessment of college outcomes and evaluation of educational and social programs.
- The Iowa Testing Program develops the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Iowa Tests of Educational Development. It also provides analytic and consultative services associated with the interpretation and use of test scores.
- The Connie Belin and Jacqueline N. Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development provides teacher training and direct services to gifted students. The center's library offers resources in gifted education to University faculty, staff, and students, as well as to educators and families throughout the nation.
- The Paul Blommers Measurement Laboratory contains a collection of books, journals, and reference materials related to educational testing and assessment, as well as an extensive collection of published and unpublished tests.
- The Educational Placement Office, which provides services to students, alumni, and employers on employment searches and job strategies.
Return to top of page.
Program
Overview
The Counseling Psychology Program at The University of Iowa was granted full accreditation by the American Psychological Association in the spring of 1983 (APA Committee on Accreditation, 750 1st Street, N.D., Washington, D.C. 20002-4242. (202) 336-5000). It is a doctoral program; no master's degree is offered. The program's primary goal is to train students to achieve competency in providing a wide range of psychological services and in conducting research on a variety of psychological issues. To achieve this goal, the curriculum has been developed to integrate psychological theory, professional development, and research training. The program strives to produce counseling psychologists who promote psychology as both a profession and a science and who apply acquired skills to the advancement of the human condition. Given our belief that the profession of psychology is constantly changing to meet human needs, our faculty and students represent the provision of traditional counseling approaches as well as a variety of innovative services.
Return to top of page.
Commitment to Multiculturalism
The Counseling Psychology Program is highly committed to a multicultural education environment. Many faculty and students conduct research on current muliticultural issues. Further, our program offers a required multicultural counseling course, an advanced multicultural counseling seminar, multiple electives concerning issues of multiculturalism, and finally multicultural issues are integrated throughout most of our courses. It is our hope that such an emphasis will better prepare our students to meet the needs of our culturally diverse society.
For explicit information on culturally diverse programming, support and additional services in the Iowa City area, please consult the "University of Iowa and Surrounding Community" portion of the Diversity Highlights page within the Univiersity Counseling Services website.
Return to top of page.
Definition of Counseling
Psychology
Counseling psychology, as an applied psychological specialty, has historical roots in vocational guidance, the mental hygiene movement, and early efforts to facilitate emotional adjustment. A definition of counseling psychology, adopted by the Executive Committee of Division 17 (the Division of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association) in 1983, is as follows:
Definition
Counseling Psychology is a general practice and health service provider specialty in professional psychology. It focuses on personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span and on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, development, and organizational concerns. Counseling psychology centers on typical or normal developmental issues as well as atypical or normal development as it applies to human experience from individual, family, group, systems and organizational perspectives. Counseling psychologists help people with physical, emotional, and mental disorders improve well-being, alleviate distress and maladjustment, and resolve crises. In addition, practitioners in this professional specialty provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of psychopathology.
It has been our experience, that many entering students are unclear about the differences between counseling psychology and other subfields of psychology, namely clinical psychology. It is important to point out that there are certainly more similarities than differences between the two subfields. However, some aspects that are unique to Counseling Psychology include the importance placed on the client's environment and experiences throughout their lifespan, a strong commitment to multiculturalism in teaching, research, and practice, a focus on vocation in teaching, research and in practice, and an emphasis on identifying and developing personal and social resources and helping clients make more effective use of them (aka a strengths-based approach).
With regard to careers that can be obtained by those graduating with a degree in counseling psychology, there are, again, few differences between clinical and counseling psychology. Counseling psychology graduates currently occupy positions in teaching, research, practice, administration, etc. Many occupy positions in university counseling centers and independent practice. For a listing of those positions held by graduates of our Counseling Psychology program please consult the Initial Job Placements section.
Return to top of page.
Initial Job Placements
Upon graduation, our students obtain positions as faculty members, health service providers, private practitioners, counseling center staff members, and consultants. The following list represents the initial job placement locations of our graduates over the past years:
- Postdoctoral fellowship
- University/college faculty member
- University/college counseling centers
- Medical school faculty member
- VA Medical Centers
- Hospitals
- Community mental health centers
- Private practice
- Consultation business (e.g., IBM)
- Other (Armed Forces, nonprofit organizations)
Return to top of page.
Counseling Psychology
Please report web site problems to the College
of Education Webmaster
