Counselor Education and Supervision, Ph.D.

Admission Requirements

It is the student’s responsibility to begin the process early and follow up with the various institutions and individuals who must submit supporting documentation.

Application Deadlines for Ph.D. in CES:

• Fall Semester 2023
  • Priority Reviewed Applications - January 15
  • Hard Deadline - April 16

Applications will not be accepted for the summer semester. The number of admits may be affected by accreditation standards and requirements.

Admission to the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program is competitive. There is no guarantee of admission just because an applicant meets or exceeds the minimum criteria. To be considered for admission to the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program, students must complete a counseling application packet, and meet the minimum criteria for admission consideration as described following.

1. Submission of all following required documents by the application due date:
   1. Doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision Application Form and the $75 fee.
   2. Statement describing personal and professional goals (see personal and professional goals statement prompt below).
   3. One copy of official transcripts of all previous college work (see minimum Graduate level degree requirements below).
   4. Professionally written essay addressing your professional counselor identity and integration of social justice advocacy (see professional essay prompt below).
   5. Three letters of recommendations by professionals who hold a doctorate or master’s degree in counseling or related fields.
2. Cumulative MA GPA of 3.0 higher.

After the application review, a select number of applicants will be invited to campus for an interview.

For additional information, please contact:

Office of Admission and Student Recruitment

Governors State University

1 University Parkway

University Park, Illinois 60484

(708) 534-4490

Statement of Personal and Professional Goals Statement Prompt

In your Professional Statements please address any of the below that apply to you and your experience/interests:

1. Professional activities at the local, state, national and international level (e.g.. presentations, offices held in professional organizations, serving on advisory boards, etc.)
2. Your academic potential for being successful in a doctoral program (e.g. ability to write at a professional level, knowledge of the field, research experience, research interests, knowledge of statistics, publications, etc.)
3. Clinical experience.
4. Supervisory experience.
5. Exposure to diverse populations and professional experiences.
6. Why you want to go on for a doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision.
7. Strengths and weaknesses.

Required Graduate Level Degree Requirements

Applicants with a CACREP accredited graduate degree will automatically meet this requirement. Applicants with a master’s degree in a non-CACREP accredited counseling or counseling-related program will be considered for the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program. In addition to degree transcripts, individual course syllabi may be required to ensure that the applicant has met all the minimum requirements for the program (course work and supervised clinical training required hours). Some of the unmet requirements may be taken concurrently with the Ph.D. in CES program as long as completed within the first two years of the program.

1. Required Master Level Instruction in CACREP’s Eight Entry-Level Core Curriculum (or equivalent):

Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice

Social and Cultural Diversity

Human Growth and Development

Career Development

Counseling and Helping Relationships (including Counseling Theories)

Group Counseling and Group Work

Assessment and Testing

Research and Program Evaluation

2. Required CACREP Entry-Level Professional Practice standards (or equivalent)

3. Plus at least one CACREP curricular requirements (or equivalent) of a specialty area (e.g. addiction counseling, school counseling).

Professional Essay Prompt

Note: The following will be the specific application prompt for this essay paper:

Governors State University’s (GSU) Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision (Ph.D. in CES) focuses on training students to be advanced clinicians, educators, researchers and scholars, and leaders enhancing advocacy in the counseling field. The specific mission of the Ph.D. in CES is:

Graduates with a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at GSU will be prepared to be highly knowledgeable, skilled, dedicated, and ethical professionals, researchers, educators, leaders in the field, and practitioners. Our doctoral graduates will provide leadership and expert service that enhances diverse student development in the school, family, community, and cultural contexts that advance the accountability of counseling services.

Considering GSU’s Ph.D. in CES focus and mission, write a maximum 10-page double-spaced essay addressing the following:

1. How you define your professional counselor identity?
2. From this professional identity, and as a future leader in the profession how do you:
   1. Define Social Justice?
   2. See yourself contributing to the advocacy of the profession and for others within your Social Justice definition?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. We are looking for your thoughtful reflection of how you understand and see yourself in the professional counseling field and as a future educator, supervisor, researcher, scholar, leader, and advocate. Note: references from literature to support your position are encouraged, but not required. If you use citations within your paper, please provide a reference page.

Graduate Matriculation Student Status

Those interested in admission to the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program should apply as a degree-seeking student. Graduate degree-seeking students are those who meet the established admission requirements of the university, college, and specific program for which the doctoral degree is sought. Admission to a graduate major does not carry with it, nor guarantee, admission to degree candidacy in the major.

Those who are not ready to apply for full admission to the counseling program may apply to GSU as a Graduate non-degree seeking student Graduate non-degree seeking students are defined as those who hold a bachelor’s or higher degree and have not declared a major at the time of admission. No more than six (6) credit hours earned as a graduate non-degree seeking student shall be transferable toward the requirements of any graduate degree program, and such transfer will be subject to the degree requirements in effect at the time of admission to the specific major. Graduate non-degree seeking students may not take graduate-level courses designated by division faculty as reserved for master’s degree candidates only. Non-degree seeking students for the MA in Counseling program can take COUN 6600 Professional Orientation & Ethical Standards in Counseling and COUN 6630 Counseling Theories before admission to the program.

Students must follow the sequence, program, college, and university requirements and policies.

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