Counseling & Educational Psychology

Message from the Department Head

Welcome to the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology (CEP) Department. The CEP Department has a progressive and rapidly growing undergraduate minor, and five high quality innovative graduate programs. The Departmental mission states that its goal is to prepare professionals in counseling psychology, school psychology, and school and mental health counseling to work with diverse populations in various educational and community settings.

In addition, the CEP Department houses the TRiO Upward Bound program, a federally-funded college prep program that serves the Las Cruces and Gadsden school districts. In the most recent year, 100% of participating seniors enrolled in post-secondary education immediately following graduation.

Three of the CEP Department's graduate programs are nationally accredited. Our Master's Program in Counseling offers preparation for licensing in Professional Counseling and School Counseling, and is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Our Educational Specialist Degree in School Psychology is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). And, our Doctoral Program in Counseling Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) (for more information on this accreditation, contact the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, APA, 750 1st Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, 202.336.5979). The accredited status of our programs provides assurance that they are providing high-quality training and education that is in accordance with nationally accepted standards.

Two of our programs have been supported by national training grants. The Counseling Psychology Program provides specialized and cutting edge training in bilingual, culturally competent behavioral health, mind-body medicine, and border issues. It is funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program received the Suinn Award presented by the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs of the American Psychological Association for training ethnic and racial minority psychologists. The School Psychology Program has been supported by a personnel preparation grant from the Office of Special Education Programs for training School Psychologists who are able to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families.

Students in our Counseling, School Psychology, and Counseling Psychology programs, and collaboratively with students from the Family and Consumer Science Department's Marriage & Family Therapy graduate program, engage in supervised service delivery in the NMSU Community Mental Health & Wellness Clinic. The Clinic includes live supervision capabilities and modern digital recording equipment to provide students with supported, hands-on learning experiences. The Clinic also incorporates psychological and psychoeducational assessment toward providing experience in testing, increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of diagnostics and treatment planning, and to enable research opportunities for students in all programs. In addition to serving NMSU undergraduate students for training purposes, The Clinic is dedicated to providing services to members of the Las Cruces/Doña Ana County community.

There is a high demand for our graduates. The fields of School and Counseling Psychology have been identified as "high demand" careers and categorized as faster-than-average growth by the Department of Labor. In addition, School Psychology has been named one of the 50 best careers for 2010 (U.S. News and World Report, 2010). There are pressing needs for school and professional counselors in New Mexico and other states, and the need for psychologists who can prescribe medication is well documented.

Our dedicated and dynamic faculty and students are involved in cutting edge research in topics such as behavioral health training and self-efficacy, school belongingness, adolescence risk and protective factors, social and emotional development, multicultural competence, indigenous ways of knowing, gender roles, group work, prevention, and therapy outcomes. They are committed to social justice through community outreach, including providing service and conducting research in local schools and mental health organizations. They have won awards from the American Psychological Association, the National Association for School Psychologists, the American Counseling Association, and New Mexico State University for their contributions through teaching, research and service.

I am glad you are exploring our Department. I hope you will develop a complete picture of what the Department has to offer and how it might fit with your interests and goals.

Location

The Department of Counseling & Educational Psychology at New Mexico State University is currently located in O'Donnell Hall Room 205.

New Mexico State University
College of Education
Department of Counseling & Educational Psychology
MSC 3CEP, P.O. Box 30001
Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8001
(575) 646-2121