454 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 training. Doctoral programs in CES are considered training grounds for shaping students’ professional (Dollarhide et al., 2013; Limberg et al., 2013) and research identities (Perera-Diltz & Sauerheber, 2017). In addition, mentoring and advising relationships are viewed as important to supporting research motivation and productivity (Kuo et al., 2017). Given students’ motivations and expectations for career preparation and advancement, it would make sense that they would want to choose a doctoral program that fits their needs. In addition to matching academic needs, it can also be assumed that as consumers of doctoral education, students would want to choose a high-quality doctoral program in CES. Bersola et al. (2014) conducted a study into factors that influenced admitted doctoral students’ (N = 540) choice of program. The students in the study were all from programs and departments located within one university. Both underrepresented minority and majority students cited program reputation, institutional reputation, faculty quality, research quality, and faculty access/availability as primary reasons for their choice of doctoral program. Participants reported these factors as more important to their choice of doctoral program than non– quality-related factors such as cost of living, housing, location, and urbanity (Bersola et al., 2014). There are many program options for CES doctoral study, but little is known about what constitutes a high-quality program in counselor education apart from CACREP accreditation. Although the perceptions of CES doctoral graduates remain unknown, researchers have utilized data from doctoral graduates across disciplines regarding their satisfaction with their programs (Barnes & Randall, 2012; Morrison et al., 2011). Graduates identified aspects such as academic rigor, funding opportunities, mentoring in meeting program requirements, research skill training, and developing a sense of community as contributing to their satisfaction and perceptions of the doctoral programs (Barnes & Randall, 2012; Morrison et al., 2011). Despite considerable knowledge of doctoral graduates’ perceptions, little is known about faculty perspectives on these issues (Kim et al., 2015). There is evidence that faculty perceptions of doctoral program quality can differ from alumni perceptions. Morrison et al. (2011) examined program faculty and alumni perceptions of quality doctoral education in the social sciences. Both faculty and alumni considered training in research skills and diversity characteristics of the program as important to quality. However, alumni also tended to place greater emphasis on the importance of faculty support in meeting program requirements and fostering belonging, whereas program faculty placed greater emphasis on the scholarly reputation of faculty when defining doctoral program quality. Purpose of the Present Study Very few studies have explored program faculty perceptions of high-quality doctoral education, and no studies exist in CES specifically. As educators and mentors, faculty who teach in CES programs should be both interested and invested in enhancing educational environments that meet students’ career aspirations as well as advancing the profession. Although industry standards for quality exist (e.g., CACREP standards), there is a need to better understand which components CES faculty believe comprise a high-quality doctoral program in CES. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in knowledge. Methodology This particular study was conducted as part of a larger comprehensive qualitative study of CES doctoral programs organized by the last author that followed the basic qualitative research design described by Merriam and Tisdell (2016). In the basic qualitative research paradigm, the research team
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