The Professional Counselor (TPC) has conferred its annual scholarship awards—one Dissertation Excellence Award and two Outstanding Scholar Awards.

The Dissertation Excellence Award has been awarded since 2014 and recognizes original research that significantly contributes to the counseling profession. Entries are evaluated on the presentation and clarity of ideas, sound methodology and interpretation of findings, innovative quality, and value to the counseling literature.

Stacey Diane A. Litam, PhD, NCC, LPCC (Ohio), received this year’s award with her dissertation, An Examination of Whether Scores of Attitudes Based on Labels and Counselor Attributes Predicted Scores of Human Relations and Beliefs About Rape in Counselors.

Dr. Litam is an assistant professor in Cleveland State University’s counselor education program in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a part-time instructor at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), where she teaches the Foundations of Clinical Medicine courses. Learn more about Dr. Litam and her work.

Dr. Litam will receive a certificate of recognition and a $1,500 honorarium, and she will adapt her dissertation into an article to be published in TPC.

The Outstanding Scholar Awards were created to recognize the most noteworthy articles published in TPC each year, one in each of two categories—concept/theory and quantitative or qualitative research. All of the articles published in the year’s volume are evaluated based on scholarly style, innovative and inventive material, and relevance to the counseling profession.

Michael T. Kalkbrenner, PhD, NCC, and Christopher A. Sink, PhD, NCC, received the 2018 Outstanding Scholar Award for Quantitative or Qualitative Research for their article, “Development and Validation of the College Mental Health Perceived Competency Scale.”

Dr. Kalkbrenner is an assistant professor of counseling and educational psychology at New Mexico State University. Dr. Sink is a professor and the Batten Chair of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University. Learn more about the authors.

Jennifer L. Rogers, PhD, NCC, Dennis D. Gilbride, PhD, and Brian J. Dew, PhD, received the 2018 Outstanding Scholar Award for Concept/Theory for their article, “Utilizing an Ecological Framework to Enhance Counselors’ Understanding of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic.”

Dr. Rogers is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University. Dr. Gilbride is a professor in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department at Georgia State University. Dr. Dew has served as Chair of the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University since 2011. Learn more about the authors.

The authors are awarded a $1,500 honorarium for the article, as well as certificates of recognition.

See the TPC Awards page for past winners and information on how you can apply next year.