Rehabilitation Counseling Honors Graduates

		Program in Rehabilitation Counseling Honors Graduates

For the first time in the program’s 45-year history, the UK College of Education’s Rehabilitation Counseling program held a special ceremony for its graduates on Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. The students honored included 50 graduates of the on-campus and distance-based learning programs.

“The recent ceremony was our attempt to recognize the 2007 DL (distance learning) and campus graduates who, because they often are working in other parts of the state, are not able to come to the UK graduation ceremony (in May),” said Malachy Bishop, associate professor and coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counseling program. “We also recognized course facilitators who assist us with teaching the Web-based course.”

While the on-campus program has been around since 1962, the distance education program (DL) was not initiated until the fall of 1996. Originally, the DL was provided through satellite and compressed video, but the program became Web-based in January 2004. The biggest difference between the campus and online-based programs is that the DL was developed to help the two state agencies that serve Kentuckians with disabilities, the Kentucky Office for the Blind and the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, to meet their need to educate and train their counselors to the level of master’s degree (MRC) practitioners and Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRC).

“The DL program was designed specifically for professionals who are already working in the field of rehabilitation counseling, but who do not yet have their master’s and certification,” Bishop said. “It continues to meet the need for counselors in Kentucky and the surrounding states, as well as states around the country. As a result, the students in the DL program have the opportunity to study, converse and learn with other students from around the country, and learn in a diverse environment about different rehabilitation counseling perspectives and practices.

“Our graduates are employed in careers that make a difference in the lives of Kentuckians with disabilities. They are employed in educational, career/vocational, medical, mental health and other professional counseling settings.”

Another aspect of the program that Bishop is proud of is the partnership with Kentucky State University and other historically black colleges and universities that allows undergraduates from those schools to take a limited number of courses on-line while working on their undergraduate degrees. Then, upon graduation, they can enroll in the master’s program and complete their MRC.

Along with Bishop, the program has four faculty and two adjunct faculty members, one of which is Jackie Rogers, Ph.D., who co-coordinates the DL component.

“It was a very nice ceremony, with the address by Dean James Cibulka being a highlight,” Bishop said. “Although this was our first such ceremony, the participants enthusiastically recommended making it an annual event. And we are proud of our program, our top-20 national ranking (as published by U.S.News & World Report) and the excellent professional and academic preparation we offer our students.”