Shaywanna Harris-Pierre, PhD, LPC, is an assistant professor of professional counseling at Texas State University. Her research centers on the psychological and physiological impact of trauma and race-based traumatic stress. Dr. Harris-Pierre serves her community through facilitating free workshops for couples where she provides psychoeducation on communication skills. Dr. Harris-Pierre also serves the counseling profession through her position as secretary for the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling, and her role as an editorial board member for the Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development.
Christopher T. Belser, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor in the counselor education program at the University of New Orleans. He earned his PhD in counselor education and supervision at the University of Central Florida and his MEd in school counseling at Louisiana State University. Dr. Belser has experience in Louisiana public and charter schools as a middle school counselor and a high school career coach. His research interests include school counselor preparation/practice and interdisciplinary P–16 STEM career development initiatives. Dr. Belser has delivered dozens of presentations at local, state, national, and international conferences and has published numerous articles and book chapters on counseling and career-related topics. He is the current associate editor of the Journal of Child & Adolescent Counseling, served as Chi Sigma Iota’s 2020–2021 Edwin Herr Fellow, and previously won The Professional Counselor’s 2018 Dissertation Excellence Award.
Naomi J. Wheeler, PhD, NCC, LPC, LMHC, is an assistant professor in counselor education and supervision at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research builds on her professional and clinical experiences to examine relationship health across the life span, including the role of early life family adversity (such as ACEs) and couple stress as contributors to health disparities. Dr. Wheeler is also the co-director for the Urban Education and Family Center at VCU, which serves as a hub for community-engaged research and program services that address educational attainment, economic mobility, and individual and family well-being for historically marginalized populations living in poverty from a two-generational approach. The Center strives to harness research to improve the quality of life for Black and Latinx families in the greater Richmond area through community-based work.
Andrea Dennison, PhD, is an assistant professor at Texas State University.
Fei Shen, PhD, is a staff therapist at the Barnes Center at the Arch – Counseling at Syracuse University. Her clinical and research interests include attachment and trauma healing. She specifically focuses on understanding the impact and prevention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in marginalized communities, as well as identifying mediating and moderating factors that can protect survivors from the negative effects of trauma.
Yanhong Liu, PhD, NCC, is an associate professor in the Counseling & Human Services Department at Syracuse University. She also serves as the MS in School Counseling P–12 Program Coordinator. Her scholarship centers around marginalized youth and supporting systems. She has published widely and consistently in counseling as well as interdisciplinary journals on the topics of adopted youth, school bullying, school-based programs, and counselor training.
Mansi Brat, PhD, LPC, LMHC, is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University. Dr. Brat’s scholarship focuses on mindfulness-based programs (MBP), social justice, counselor professional identity and advocacy, contemplative sciences, and humanistic psychology. She has published across interdisciplinary journals and is extremely passionate about furthering her research in highlighting the many layers of implicit bias that remain critical in dismantling racism and oppression amongst dominant groups.
Stacey Diane A. Litam (she, her, hers), PhD, NCC, CCMHC, LPCC, is an assistant professor of counselor education at Cleveland State University. Dr. Litam is a researcher, counselor educator, and social justice advocate on topics related to human sexuality, sex trafficking, and the phenomenological experiences of individuals who have intersecting marginalized identities.
As a scholar, Dr. Litam’s research has been published in prestigious journals such as The Professional Counselor (TPC), Journal of Sexual Aggression, and Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. Her doctoral 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, won TPC’s 2019 Dissertation Excellence Award. In addition to her two TPC awards, Dr. Litam has won numerous awards for her academic and advocacy work, including a 2016 Doctoral Minority Fellowship from the NBCC Foundation, the 2016 Outstanding Doctoral Student of the Year award from the Ohio Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the 2017 Humanistic Advocacy and Social Justice Award from the Association for Humanistic Counselors division of the American Counseling Association, the 2018 David K. Brooks Award from Chi Sigma Iota, and a 2019 Outstanding Service to Specialized Populations Award from NBCC.
She has facilitated over 70 refereed presentations at the national, regional, and state levels and actively contributes to peer-reviewed publications in journals, books, and edited volumes. Her professional interests encompass human sexuality, human trafficking, decolonizing the model minority stereotype, and the influence of internalized racism and intra-ethnic othering on Asian American identity development.
Jennifer L. Rogers, Jamie E. Crockett, and Esther Suess
Jennifer L. Rogers, Jamie E. Crockett, and Esther Suess received the 2019 Outstanding Scholar Award for Concept/Theory for their article, “Miscarriage: An Ecological Examination.”
Jennifer L. Rogers, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor in the Wake Forest University Department of Counseling. She received her PhD in counseling and counselor education from Syracuse University. Her clinical and research interests are centered around relational approaches to counseling, supervision, and counselor preparation across ecologically diverse practice contexts. Her current research focuses upon how attachment and cognitive patterns among beginning counselors influence their experiences during clinical supervision.
Jamie E. Crockett, PhD, NCC, LCMHCA, is an assistant professor in the Wake Forest University Department of Counseling and a clinical mental health counselor at Triad Counseling and Clinical Services. Her clinical and research interests include human development, attachment, gender and sexuality, reproductive health, grief and loss, contemplative and breath-based approaches, emotion, wellness, religion and spirituality, ethics, feminism, and diversity and culture.
Esther Suess, MA, NCC, LPC-A, LCMHCA, is a mental health counselor at the Mood Treatment Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with a specialty in the treatment of eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She graduated with an undergraduate degree in psychology from University College Dublin in 2016 and received her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Wake Forest University in 2018. Her research interests include cultural diversity and biopsychosocial factors in counseling and eating disorders.
Michael T. Kalkbrenner, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor of counseling and educational psychology at New Mexico State University. His research interests include college student mental health, interprofessional approaches to physical and mental wellness, and reducing barriers to counseling. He conducts quantitative and qualitative research, with an emphasis on quantitative methodology in psychometrics. Dr. Kalkbrenner has clinical experience providing counseling to a variety of populations in an array of different settings, including medical residents, veterans, college students, and children.
Christopher A. Sink, PhD, NCC, is a professor and the Batten Chair of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University. His current research interests involve the intersection of mental and school-based counseling, psychometrics, social and emotional learning, ecological and systemic approaches to prevention, positive psychotherapy, and spirituality as an important feature of adolescent resiliency. Dr. Sink serves as the editor of the Journal of School-based Counseling Policy and Evaluation (International Society for Policy Research and Evaluation in School-Based Counseling) and associate editor for Counseling and Values (American Counseling Association). He has also served on the editorial boards of multiple peer-refereed journals, including The Professional Counselor (National Board for Certified Counselors), Professional School Counseling (American School Counselor Association), and Counselling and Spirituality (Saint Paul University, Canada).
Jennifer L. Rogers, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University. She received her doctorate in counseling and counselor education from Syracuse University, where she was a doctoral fellow. Her clinical and research interests include brief counseling interventions, clinical supervision, and relational approaches to counseling and counselor preparation across ecologically diverse practice contexts. Her current research focuses upon how attachment and cognitive patterns among beginning counselors influence their experiences during clinical supervision.
Dennis D. Gilbride, PhD, is currently a professor in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department at Georgia State University. He has published numerous articles along with book chapters related to disability, ethical decision-making, attachment, and supervision, as well as other counselor education issues. He received the James F. Garrett Award for Distinguished Career in Rehabilitation Research in 2013, and the Outstanding Faculty Research Award from the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University in 2015.
Brian J. Dew, PhD, has served as Chair of the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University since 2011. His research has been focused on substance use—primarily on the topics of methamphetamine use and treatment, ecstasy use, and more recently, the spread of opiate consumption. Prior to his academic position at GSU, Dr. Dew worked as a substance abuse counselor in a hospital-based setting, where he developed and directed an intensive family program geared toward educating the non-addict on aspects of recovery. Over the past 12 years, Dr. Dew has served as Atlanta’s primary representative to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) Community Epidemiological Work Group, where he is responsible for reporting Atlanta drug trends to federal officials. Dr. Dew has been awarded the Outstanding Faculty Research Award from GSU’s College of Education and Human Development, and the Outstanding Addictions and Offender Professional Award by the Association of Addictions and Offender Counseling. Dr. Dew has made over 200 professional presentations, including keynote addresses and international trainings.
