Counseling, Human Development, and Family Science

Casey Barrio, Department Head
Spencer Olmstead, Associate Department Head and Director of Graduate Studies

Professors

Barrio, C., PhD – North Carolina (Greensboro)
Cochran, J., PhD – Virginia Tech
Gibbons, M., PhD – North Carolina (Greensboro)
Johnson, E., PhD – Michigan
Olmstead, S., PhD – Florida State
Rauer, A.J., PhD – Michigan
Stolz, H., PhD – Brigham Young

Associate Professors

Diambra, J., EdD – William & Mary
Haselschwerdt, M., PhD – Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)

Assistant Professors

Coleman, J., PhD – Georgia State
Kim, H., PhD – Penn State
Westcott, J., PhD – Virginia Tech
Yan, J., PhD – Ohio State

Clinical Assistant Professors

Dolezal, J., PhD – Tennessee
Moralejo, J., PhD – Tennessee
Nownes, E., PhD – Tennessee

Clinical Associate Professors

Hunter, S., PhD – Tennessee
Kilpatrick, C.T., PhD – Tennessee

Affiliated Professor

Gordon, K., PhD – North Carolina (Chapel Hill)

Joint Faculty Associate Professor

Williams, D., PhD – Nebraska (Lincoln)

Majors, Degrees

Counseling Major, MS  
         Clinical Mental Health Counseling Concentration
         School Counseling Concentration
Counselor Education Major, PhD  
Human Development and Family Science Major, MS  
         Human Development and Family Science Concentration
Human Development and Family Science Major, PhD  

Graduate Certificates

Grief, Loss, and Trauma Graduate Certificate  
 

The mission of the Department of Counseling, Human Development, and Family Science is to promote optimal development and holistic well-being across the lifespan through research and practice that honor the complexities of individuals, families, and communities. We strive to achieve this through:

• conducting high quality scientific research to advance our disciplines and inform practice and policy;
• developing professionals who possess knowledge and skills to work alongside individuals, families, and communities; and
• engaging with campus and community partners to design and deliver culturally responsive services grounded in research and theory.

We value systemic and equity-oriented approaches that embrace the richness of human experiences. We pursue interdisciplinary rigor and excellence as we center relationships, integrity, humility, and co-creation in pursuit of our mission. The department is comprised of faculty members and degree programs in two disciplines: Counselor Education and Human Development and Family Science.

Our Counseling and Counselor Education graduate programs promote optimal development and holistic wellness across the lifespan by advancing professional counseling through development of counselors and counselor educators, research, leadership, and advocacy. We strive to enhance deeply healing relationships and evidence-informed practices in ways that are community-engaged and culturally sustaining. Our MS in Counseling degree programs prepare counselor-advocate-scholars with a strong professional identity and skills for effective practice in diverse settings. The Clinical Mental Health Counseling concentration equips professional counselors for independent practice across a wide variety of community settings and populations. The School Counseling concentration equips professional school counselors for practice in P-12 educational settings. Our PhD in Counselor Education prepares counselor educators and supervisors with strong professional identity and skills to enrich the counseling profession through advanced practice, supervision, teaching, research, leadership, and advocacy. The MS programs meet educational requirements for licensure in Tennessee and most other states. All three programs are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

Our Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) graduate programs are designed to train highly competent, culturally responsive scientists who will make significant contributions to society as scholars, educators, and professionals. Together, students and faculty in HDFS share a strong commitment to intellectual inquiry, methodological rigor, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement. A cornerstone idea for our HDFS graduate programs is development in context, or the perspective that human development is best understood in terms of interconnections among families, neighborhoods, schools, communities, cultures, and international environments. Our MS in HDFS provides a broad foundation for understanding how individuals develop and families function in their community context. MS students are expected to engage in productive research culminating in a thesis or practicum community context. The degree prepares professionals for doctoral study or careers in community agencies serving individuals and families across the lifespan. Our PhD in HDFS provides in-depth studies of theory, methods, and empirical knowledge about HDFS. Doctoral students focus on research and scientific inquiry, preparing professionals to design and evaluate state-of-the-science scholarship, intervention, and prevention programs to understand and promote optimal development and holistic well-being across the lifespan. The degree prepares professionals for careers and leadership roles in education, research, government, and nonprofit agencies.