Welcome to the Department
of Counseling Psychology

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The Department of Counseling Psychology is primarily a graduate department, offering an APA-accredited doctoral degree in counseling psychology (Ph.D.); a master's degree (M.S.) in counseling specializing in either school or community counseling; and two certificate programs (a certificate for post-master's counselors and a certificate of completion in psychosocial factors in student achievement). Housed in the School of Education, Counseling Psychology is one of eight departments.

 

The department emphasizes the integration of multiculturalism and diversity into counseling psychology and is committed to multiculturalism broadly-defined in teaching, research, practice, and service. As such, we have worked toward a dialogue of diversity as an integral part of our community of learning.

News

Dr. Mary Lee Nelson was recently featured in a news article for her work with Online, Virtual 3D environments.

Prof. Lee Nelson uses a web-based 3D ‘virtual world’ for teaching and research

UW-Madison counseling psychology grad student Ashley Kaseroff always wanted to dress in the Goth style as a teenager in a small town in California, but gave it up under pressure from her parents and peers.

After starting college, when she felt the need to present a more professional image, she realized she had missed her chance to sport the characteristic black clothing and make-up.

However, Kaseroff recently discovered a way to explore her interests in Goth culture via an increasingly popular social and educational Internet-based virtual world called Second Life in which users design “avatars” or three-dimensional representations of themselves.

Second Life, a primarily social yet increasingly educational 3D virtual world that exists only on the Web, allows adult members to buy  virtual land, build homes, gardens, run businesses, go dancing, listen to music at nightclubs, tour NASA, visit museums, attend university classes and meet people from all over the world.

“I figured when I joined SL, I could dress for my dark side, so to speak,” said Kaseroff, speaking through her avatar, Katara Darkstone, in an interview from a secluded garden patio in Second Life. “I actually started out with the (pre-fab cyber Goth avatar) and then slowly started changing her appearance. I like medieval things, so I got a sword, wings, and I have a baby dragon, too.”

Kaseroff’s ability to explore a “look” that would be inappropriate for her real life is an example of an issue she and a handful of other students in counseling psychology professor Lee Nelson’s quantitative methods class will be researching this year – body image.

Many higher education institutions host a variety of online laboratories and classes in Second Life, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, University of Minnesota, Ohio State, and Penn State.

“We do find that Second Life offers faculty new ways to teach and engage students – it represents a new form of media literacy in a world build entirely by SL residents,” said Catherine Stephens, instruction/outreach program coordinator at the Center for Instructional Materials & Computing.

“Instructors are finding novel ways to build classroom scenarios in this simulated virtual world,” Stephens said.  “I’ve visited English classes where avatars venture off on a scavenger hunt to uncover literary elements and then build their knowledge of literary terms.”  Continue Article

 

Find out more about out the year-long Social Justice and Diversity Programming and the upcoming Spring Research and Practice Showcase.

 

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