Counseling and Student Affairs

December, 2002 Newsletter 

 

ADVISING TIPS 

Welcome to Spring semester 2003! Classes begin January 14, 2003. 

The following courses are open to anyone:

 

Those students who successfully completed CNSA 610, CNSA 611, CNSA 620, and who are in the Community Counseling, School Counseling, or Student Affairs College Counseling tracks may wish to continue with CNSA 691, counseling practicum. See your advisor if you are unsure about when to take practicum.  

CNSA 630 Group Counseling is available to those who have successfully completed CNSA 620, Counseling Skills I. 

CNSA 662, Administration of College Student Affairs (2 credits) and CNSA 663, The College Student (1 credit) are available to those who took CNSA 660 and 661 in the Fall. 

 

STUDENT AND FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Leslie Mack, Community Counseling, will graduate on December 20, 2002. Her thesis was “A Survey of Licensed Counselors’ Attitudes Regarding Nonsexual Dual Behaviors.” Congratulations Leslie!! 

Jasi O'Connor was awarded a grant from the Research and Information

committee of the Upper-Midwest Region-Association of College and

University Housing Officers at their fall conference Oct. 22-25 in St.

Paul, MN. The grant was awarded to support research of her thesis,

"Differences in moral development between student policy offenders and

non offenders." 

Jasi was also awarded the "Best First Publication" award from the

Newsletter committee for her submission titled, "How much is too much?

Counseling in the residence hall." 

Melissa Rademacher attended the International Career Development Conference in Irving, California on November 8, 9, and 10. 

Wes Erwin and Lori Wheelright (1999 graduate of CNSA) published the article “Improving Mail Survey Response Rates Through the Use of a Monetary Incentive” in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 2002, 24, 247-255.  

Wes Erwin was joint author (with Robert Block and M. Ghoneim) of the article “Chronic Drug Use and Cognitive Impairments” which was published in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 2002, 73, 491-504. 

 

CNSA Website 

Please visit the CNSA website to see the updates. Joel Mayer is our webmaster this year. Thanks Joel!  CNSA website address: http://www.mnstate.edu/cnsa/ 

 

COUNSELOR LICENSURE EFFORTS IN MINNESOTA 

The Minnesota Association for Counseling and Development (MACD) plans to introduce a Counselor Licensure bill again this academic year. Please consider becoming a member of MACD. You can apply on line at the MACD webpage: http://course1.winona.msus.edu/cward/macd/

Updates will be sent over the CNSA listserv or you can visit the legislative update section of the MACD website: http://course1.winona.msus.edu/cward/macd/legislation2.htm  

 

MSUM SITE FOR NATIONAL COUNSELOR LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION EXAM 

The Counseling and Student Affairs Program is participating in a program offered by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). This program is one in which current students of MSUM's Counseling and Student Affairs program can take the Graduate Student Administration (GSA) - National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification (NCE) on campus, prior to their graduation. The exam is scheduled for April 12, 2003. This exam is required for counselor licensure in many states including North Dakota. 

Counseling students who will graduate with their Master's degree between February 1 and August 31, 2003 may be eligible to take the exam. Benefits to students participating in this program include paying lower fees and avoiding extensive travel (other test administration sites are Bismarck and St. Paul). Graduates of the Counseling and Student Affairs program may be eligible to take the exam at MSUM as well. Those interested may call the NBCC/NCE Campus Coordinator, Wes Erwin, at 477-2009.  

 

 

 

REQUIRED EXAM 

The National Board for Certified Counselors has created a test for training programs to assess knowledge acquired in masters training programs. This test, the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), is part of the CNSA program’s assessment plan. It is helpful to have information about how our graduates compare to the national sample that takes the exam. Therefore, again this year the CPCE will be required of all those who take comprehensive exams during the year (summer 2002, fall 2002, and spring 2003). We are very proud of the fact that everyone from our program who has taken this exam has done quite well. Keep up the great work!! 

Because the program and the institution think the exam results are important, the institution has agreed to pay the $30 fee that it costs for each person to take the exam. We will try to schedule the exam on the Friday a week after comps, so that you do not have to prepare twice, but are still prepared from studying for comps. The exam is 160 multiple choice items with 20 items per CACREP area. If you would like further information, please call Pat at 477-2699. We need your assistance as we continue to document the quality of the program. Thanks. 

 

SPRING MEETINGS 

There are two groups of meetings for Spring Semester that may be of interest to you. The first is the Research Seminar that will meet every Tuesday from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Lommen 111. Wes and Pat will be at these meetings and hopefully all students will attend also. This will be a place where we discuss the programs of research that are operating in the program, the faculty's research interests, thesis topics and resources, methods for getting your theses done, and editing of thesis chapters. Everything you ever wanted to know about your thesis but were afraid to ask or everything you just wanted an answer to about your thesis are topics appropriate for this seminar. If you want support and help with your thesis, this is the place to get it (whatever that support or help might be). Come join us! 

Research seminar meetings will begin on Tuesday January 21, 2003.  

The second group of meetings is the faculty meetings. All the faculty meetings are open. Jasi O’Connor and Trina Pisk-Hall are the GSO representatives at these meetings, and of course Wes and Pat attend. All policies related to the program are discussed there. Come help us with your ideas. The faculty meetings will be held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 3:00p.m. in Lommen 111 or in Wes’ office.  

 

GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION 

The Graduate Student Organization for Counseling and Student Affairs (GSO) elected officers for the 2002-03 academic year at Orientation. Jackie Hendricks (hendrija@mnstate.edu) was elected President and Jen Gifford (giffordjr@mnstate.edu) was elected Vice-President. Jasi O’Connor (oconnorj@mnstate.edu) and Trina Pisk-Hall (piskhtr@mnstate.edu) are the GSO representatives. GSO meetings are a wonderful opportunity for sharing and support with other members of the Counseling and Student Affairs program. The GSO published a newsletter this fall and plans to publish more in the future. Please consider writing an article for the GSO newsletter.  

 

PROFESSIONAL CONVENTIONS 

American Counseling Association Conference – Anaheim, CA – March 23-25; webpage: http://www.counseling.org/convention/convention.htm 

American College Personnel Association – Minneapolis, MN - March 29-

April 2; webpage:

http://www.acpa.nche.edu/convention/convention2003/homepage.cfm 

National Association for Student Personnel Administration -  St. Louis, MO - March 22-26; webpage: http://www.naspa.org/conference/index.cfm 

North Dakota Counseling Association - Bismarck, ND – February 2-4; webpage: http://www.sendit.nodak.edu/ndca/midwinter/index.html 

National Career Development Conference - Denver, Colorado, June 25-28

webpage: http://ncda.org/ 

Minnesota School Counseling Association – to be announced 

See the bulletin board for other conference announcements. 

 

STUDENT, ALUMNI, AND FACULTY RECEPTION AT NDCA CONFERENCE 

The faculty highly encourage you to attend the North Dakota Counseling Association convention in Bismarck, North Dakota February 2-4. It is a great place to network, meet other counselors in the area, meet and talk to alumni of the program, talk to faculty and students from other counselor training programs, and even learn new information about the profession. There is a group of students getting together to go, so please let others know if you are interested in attending the conference. You are excused from classes if you attend the conference. You can go for just one day, say Sunday, also. Wes is planning an Alumni, Student and Faculty reception for Sunday February 2 at 7:00p.m. at the conference. More details will be announced over the listserv. 

 

 

 

 

SPRING DATES AND DEADLINES 

Thesis Deadlines:

- March 6 - deadline to submit “advisor approved draft” to CNSA faculty

- March 27 – deadline for distribution of “faculty approved draft” to outside committee member

- April 10 – deadline for form 3 (last day to apply for oral examination)

- April 24 - last day for oral exam

- May 8 - last day to deliver thesis copies to the library and form 4

to Graduate Studies Office 

Commencement:

- Commencement - May 16 

 

HOW TO STUDY FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION 

Karen Montgomery, a graduate of the program, spoke about ways to prepare for comps several years ago. A video tape of the presentation, which is excellent, is available from the faculty.  

 

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION SCHEDULE 

The following dates and times have been set up for administering the comprehensive exam for Master of Science degree students. 

Graduate students in Counseling and Student Affairs should contact their advisor to let them know when they will be ready to write the exam. The Application for Comprehensive Exams form is available from Bev Nokken in 209 Lommen Hall. These application forms should be turned in to Bev Nokken in Lommen 205 at the beginning of Spring Semester. You may take comps in the summer, but you must let your advisor know by April 1, 2003. Summer comps are not read until Fall semester.  

There is a two-page list of study areas for the comps in your Handbook. The rating form used by faculty when reading the comps is also in the Handbook. 

SPRING SEMESTER  Wed., Mar. 26, 2003     Thurs., Mar. 27, 2003

2003      10-12:00 noon & 1-3 p.m.   10-12 noon & 1-3 p.m.

       LO 101 Computer Lab     LO 101 Computer Lab  

FIRST SUMMER    Wed., June 11, 2003     Thurs., June 12, 2003

SESSION, 2003   10-12:00 noon & 1-3 p.m.   10-12 noon & 1-3 p.m.

       LO 101 Computer Lab     LO 101 Computer Lab  

 

FACULTY AVAILABILITY THIS SUMMER 

The faculty are not paid for summer faculty activities and as a result are generally not available during the summer. Please plan ahead and consult with your advisor if you plan to work on your thesis over the summer. If you elect to take comprehensive examinations in the summer, they will not be read until Fall Semester. 

MAXIMUM YEARS TO COMPLETE DEGREE 

Please be aware of the five year time limit for CNSA coursework. To meet the deadline you must graduate before your first course is over 5 years old. Otherwise, you must retake courses as they go over the 5 year limit. For instance, if you took your first course in the fall of one year, you need to graduate by the summer 5 years later. 

   First Course      Graduate By 

Fall, 1998      Summer, 2003    

Fall, 1999      Summer, 2004

   Fall, 2000      Summer, 2005

   Fall, 2001      Summer, 2006

   Fall, 2002      Summer, 2007

   

The same is true for spring semester starts. If your first course is in the spring, you must be through by the fall semester 5 years later. Please check your transcript to determine these dates. Add 5 to the year of your first course. 

Counseling and Student Affairs

Course Offerings 

Spring, 2003 

CNSA 613  Career Development  3  Seaburg  5:00-7:30 T LO 210 CNSA 614  Human Growth & Devel 3  Dokken  5:00-7:30 M LO 003

for Counselors

CNSA 615  Social/Cultural Found 3  Erwin  5:00-7:30 H LO 210

of Counseling

CNSA 630  Group Counseling  3  Erwin  5:00-7:30 M LO 210

CNSA 662  Adminstr of SA  2  Wiese  3:00-4:40 H MA 165

AF PR

CNSA 663  The College Student 1  Mehnert-M 5:00-5:50 H LO 098

CNSA 691A* Prac: Sch Couns  3 Montgomery 5:00-7:30 W NH 101
CNSA 691C* Prac: Coll Couns  3 Erwin  5:00-7:30 W NH 101
CNSA 691D* Prac: Comm Couns  3 Erwin  5:00-7:30 W NH 101
CNSA 692A* Intern: Sch   3  Neuman  4:30-6:30  W LO 210

CNSA 692B* Intern: Stud Affairs 3  Neuman  2:00-4:00  W LO 208

CNSA 692C* Intern: Coll Coun  3  Neuman  4:30-6:30  W LO 210

CNSA 692D* Intern: Comm Coun  3  Neuman  4:30-6:30  W LO 210

CNSA 698 * Continuing Regist  1  Staff  ARR   ARR

CNSA 699 * Masters Thesis  1-4  Staff  ARR   ARR 

* indicates a faculty override is needed in order to register

Rooms: LO = Lommen Hall, NH = Nemzek Practicum House located at 515 S.

11th St., Moorhead. MA = MacLean Hall