466 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 These findings are consistent with the extant literature. Studies into doctoral student experiences both in CES and across higher education have previously reported that faculty–student mentoring, student–student support systems, departmental culture, and curricula impact the quality of the student experience (Protivnak & Foss, 2009). Kuo et al. (2017) found that mentoring and advising relationships were pivotal for research motivation and producing quality research during doctoral study. Similarly, Perera-Diltz and Sauerheber (2017) suggested that developing research competencies was an important component of doctoral study in counselor education. Professional identity development is another important component of doctoral training (Dollarhide et al., 2013; Limberg et al., 2013). The inclusiveness of varying aspects of diversity within the students, faculty, and curriculum is an important finding and one that is echoed within the counseling profession’s code of ethics and professional standards (e.g., American Counseling Association, 2014; CACREP, 2015). There is scant literature in CES that focuses specifically on the clarity of the mission, mission alignment with the university, and faculty buy-in to the mission. Adkison-Bradley (2013) broached the idea of faculty buy-in through the concept of visionary thinking, proposing that faculty members possessing this type of thinking are more likely to advocate or “buy in” to the program’s mission and work to sustain a resource-rich and quality program. Divergence in Themes by Institutional Type and Classification The main divergence involved the importance of research in relation to training in teaching. Participants from research-intensive programs placed more emphasis on research training at the expense of other focus areas. When considering the importance of mission alignment with the institution’s classification and mission, it seems possible that high quality can be defined somewhat differently, based on institution type. For example, a research-intensive university should have a greater emphasis on research training, as it needs to reflect the overall mission of the university (i.e., research focused). If a doctoral program at a research-intensive university does not have a strong research emphasis, it may not be of high quality because of the potential impacts to university financial support. In contrast, a teaching university (e.g., Master’s Colleges and Universities: Larger Programs designation) can focus more on teaching than research training and still be of high quality because the institution does not have a research emphasis and therefore the program’s mission of emphasizing teacher training is in alignment with the university’s mission. From this study, it seems important that faculty members therefore consider institutional mission and the degree of institutional emphasis on research training when seeking to start or sustain a doctoral program in counselor education. Implications for Administrators and Program Faculty The resulting themes from this study move us closer to identifying the components that contribute to high-quality doctoral programs in CES. It appears that when programs can (a) facilitate supportive faculty–student and student–student relationships, (b) create a clear mission that faculty are committed to and that aligns with and supports the broader institution, (c) establish a diverse learning community, (d) assist students to develop a professional identity as counselor educators, (e) ensure the production of quality research, and (f) provide leadership training during doctoral study, they will be of high quality. Results from this study highlight several key components of high-quality doctoral programs. Our findings mirror some of the essential elements of the CACREP standards. Thus, supporting and sustaining these quality elements through regular re-accreditation cycles is paramount. However, these findings could also support other areas of focus in program evalutaion. For example, administrators and faculty members should be intentional when designing a mission statement that aligns with the broader institutional mission and has a clear plan for recruiting and retaining a diverse learning
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