Three College of Education, Health and Human Sciences faculty to be honored by national professional organization

Stephen J. Leirer, associate professor of counseling, and Douglas C. Strohmer, chair of the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, will each be recognized as Rehabilitation Researcher of the Year by the National Council on Rehabilitation Counseling (NCRE) for their article “The Rehabilitation Counselor Scale: A New Scale for the Strong Interest Inventory”.

Leirer and Strohmer will be presented with the awards during the NCRE 2009 Spring Conference in San Antonio, TX, February 18-20. The NCRE is the only national organization representing rehabilitation education and research.

Chrisann Schiro-Geist, professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, will also be honored at the NCRE conference with the Distinguished Career in Rehabilitation Counseling Award. Dr.Schiro-Geist received her doctorate in 1974 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and has been a professor of Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology at three institutions in her 33 year career in the Academy: Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and currently the University of Memphis. She has authored two textbooks in the area of vocational counseling and placement and has numerous scholarly and professional accomplishments including being the founding Editor of the NCRE journal, Rehabilitation Education (1986-92), and President of the Council on Rehabilitation Education, the accrediting body for Rehabilitation Counselor Education (1985-88).

Dr. Donald I. Wagner, Dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, says, “It’s a privilege to work with such outstanding faculty. I congratulate all three for this well-deserved recognition.”

The Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences offers graduate degree programs in three areas: Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, and Counseling Psychology.  The rehabilitation counseling concentration in the counseling program ranks among the top 20 of its kind nationally, according to U.S. News and World Report.