Counselor Education and Supervision, Ph.D.

Admission Requirements

Students for Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision will be admitted for the fall term only. Late admissions packets will be accepted on a space available basis. Applications for admission are available from the GSU Admissions Office and the Division of Psychology and Counseling (www.govst.edu/counseling). Due to space availability, this program can only accept a limited number of students each year. All materials must be submitted by January 15 of that year for fall admission. Applicants will meet with an admissions committee prior to acceptance into the program. Applicants will be ranked for admission on the basis of their academic potential and the admission criteria. Applicants must have completed a master’s degree in counseling (CACREP approved) or a related field by the time they enter the doctoral program. Students may be admitted to the program even if they do not have all of the prerequisites for the doctoral program, but must complete them before Candidacy.

In addition to meeting university admission criteria, applicants must:

1. Submit a statement describing personal and professional goals for seeking an Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision along with a vita or resume summarizing prior education and employment history and pertinent professional activities.
2. Hold a Masters Degree in Counseling or closely related field from an accredited institution and a minimum GPA of 3.0.
3. Have taken the Graduate Record Exam within the past five years of intended admission: there is a suggested combined verbal and quantitative score of 302 on the Graduate Record Examination and a 4.0 on the analytical writing section. Students with scores lower than the suggested score will be considered for admission.
4. Submit three letters of recommendation by professionals who hold doctorates or masters in Counseling or related fields (doctorate preferred).

Academic Advisor and Faculty Advisor

Upon admission to the Ph.D. program in Counselor Education and Supervision, each student will be assigned two advisors. All doctoral students will be assigned an academic advisor and a faculty advisor. The academic advisor will assist with the coordination of the student’s plan of study and necessary paperwork that is to be filed with the appropriate GSU office for dealing with admission, candidacy, and graduation matters. Together, the academic advisor and faculty advisor work together to decide what courses are allowed to count toward the prerequisite entry-level course work for the doctoral degree. The faculty advisor is in charge of mentoring the doctoral student and facilitating the comprehensive exam, oral defense, internship, and capstone/dissertation project process. As the student’s specialized interest(s) develop, the faculty advisor may be changed by following the procedures outlined in the Program Handbook.

Continuous Enrollment Requirement

Doctoral students must register for a minimum of 9 graduate credits (three a term) each year they are enrolled in the doctoral program until they graduate.

Time Limit

All doctoral requirements must be completed within 7 years of starting coursework at Governors State University. Extensions of up to one year may be granted by the Program upon written request by the student and recommendation by the faculty advisor and Division Chair.

Credits

The doctoral program in Counselor Education and Supervision requires a minimum of 48 credit hours. More hours may be taken in order for the student to specialize his/her studies, or more credits may be required in order to meet prerequisite requirements for the doctoral program.

Transfer Credits

Up to 25 percent (12 Credit Hours) post-masters work may be transferred from an accredited college or university. All transfer credit must be at the “A” or “B” level in graduate courses. Transfer credits earned ten or more years before student’s degree program at GSU will not be accepted toward degree requirements unless approved by the faculty advisor, division chair, and dean. The credits must be approved as being equivalent to the required coursework in the doctoral program. Any student who seeks to enroll in courses elsewhere while enrolled in the GSU doctoral program must receive prior approval from the faculty advisor, division chair and dean. Transfer credits from other universities will not be computed as part of a student’s GSU grade point average.

Comprehensive Exam and Oral Defense

Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral students are required to complete written and oral comprehensive examinations before they are granted candidacy. The purpose of the written and oral exams is to synthesize previous coursework and experiences and allow students to demonstrate their mastery of advanced practitioner knowledge and skills. The Oral Defense is scheduled upon successful completion of the Comprehensive Exam. For more detail please see the Program Handbook.

Candidacy

In order to go on to internship a student must have received Candidacy. Candidacy is conferred upon a student once he/she has completed all coursework required before internship, passed the written Comprehensive Exam, and passed the Oral Defense. Candidacy is part of the ongoing evaluation process of doctoral students and its conferral is an indication that the faculty agree that the student is ready to progress to internship.

Teaching Experience

Congruent with the mission of Counselor Education programs, doctoral students will be afforded the opportunity to gain experience as a Counselor Educator in the classroom. Following the successful completion of the course Teaching in Psychology and Counseling, a doctoral student will have the opportunity to teach or co-teach under the supervision of a faculty member, an undergraduate and/or a graduate class at Governors State University. This experience may be credited as part of internship with the permission of both the academic advisor and the faculty advisor. A limited number of assistantships will be available for those interested in teaching.

Practica and Internship

Doctoral students are required to participate in two advanced practica and an internship. The practica may be done onsite or offsite and they must equal a minimum of 100 clock hours and 40 client contact hours. Students enrolled in a practicum must have professional insurance and receive weekly individual/triadic and group supervision.

After earning candidacy, doctoral students are required to complete doctoral-level counseling internships that total a minimum of 600 clock hours. The 600 hours include supervised experiences in clinical settings, teaching, and supervision. The internship includes most of the activities of a regularly employed professional in the setting. The 600 hours can be allocated at the discretion of the faculty advisor in consultation with the student, based on experience and training. During the doctoral internship students must receive weekly individual/triadic supervision. In addition, group supervision is provided on a regular schedule with other students progressing through internship. Individual/triadic supervision is usually performed by a site-supervisor and group supervision is usually provided by a program faculty member. As part of the internship process, doctoral students have the opportunity to teach.

Dissertation

The Dissertation is used to synthesize the knowledge and skills gained by the student as a result of his/her matriculation through the Ph.D. program in Counselor Education and Supervision. The dissertation is to consist of quantitative or qualitative inquiry on the part of the student to investigate a topic of interest related to his/her primary subject area of study. Examples of dissertation projects include quantitative research, in-depth case studies, program evaluation, or an extensive literature review.

A doctoral committee composed of four tenured/tenure track faculty members (three Counseling faculty and one faculty member from outside the Counseling Program) will review this project from its inception to its final defense. The student works with his/her chair in an advisory manner by which the topic of inquiry will be selected, proposed and formally investigated. The chair and student are responsible at all times for ensuring that the study is properly documented and approved by all necessary channels involved with the review of studies that incorporate human participants. At GSU, the policies and procedures regarding Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol are to serve this primary capacity. External constituencies may have their own independent review and approval process for research involving human subjects that must also be followed by chair and student in such cases.

Graduation

In order to graduate, a candidate must have completed coursework with a minimum cumulative graduate grade-point average of 3.0 and having earned a grade of B or better in all required doctoral level courses; been advanced to candidacy; passed the comprehensive exam and the oral defense; successfully completed required internship; passed the dissertation defense; applied for graduation; and paid all fees.

Program Requirements