Counseling and School Psychology Information Sessions
For prospective students
Sept 4th 4pm
To sign up, contact amy.cook@umb.edu
Resources
Professional Organizations
Students are encouraged to apply for student membership in professional organizations such as the National Association of School Psychologists, the American Counseling Association, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Psychological Association. Students in the Family Therapy Program are required to join AAMFT as a student member. Application material for joining these professional organizations at the reduced student rate may be obtained in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology.
Students frequently attend state and national professional meetings, and every year some students present at national conferences in conjunction with faculty. Financial support for attending such conferences can be attained through the University of Massachusetts Boston Graduate Student Assembly, or by serving as a volunteer with the professional organization.
Student Assembly Website: http://www.gsa.umb.edu/programs.htm
University Facilities and Resources
The University's Library houses more than 500,000 volumes and currently receives more than 3,500 domestic and foreign journals and newspapers. The library holdings are entered in an on-line public access catalog, available via telecommunication outside the library. University of Massachusetts Boston students may obtain borrowing privileges at more 46 local college and universities.
The University's Department of Computing Services provides students full access to the Internet and thus to library catalogs and academic resources throughout the world. Students may access computer accounts either from terminal rooms on campus or through Internet access from home. Public computer labs, open seven days a week, provide access to a large number of word processing, spread-sheet, database, statistical, and desktop publishing software packages.
Healey Library Website: http://www.lib.umb.edu/
Accommodations
The Ross Center for Disability Services provides related support services for students with disabilities such as sign language interpretation, note taking, testing accommodation, advocacy, and counseling. The Adaptive Computing Lab contains adapted computer equipment.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 offer guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center (617-287-7430). The student must discuss these recommendations with each professor during the first few weeks of class, preferably by the end of the Drop/Add period.
Heath Service Programs
All students who have paid their health service fees are eligible to participate in the UMass Boston Health Service Programs including general medicine, gynecology, dental, health promotion, drug and alcohol prevention, and mental health services. We advise students from the Department of Counseling and School Psychology (DCSP) seeking mental health services to specifically request seeing a UMass Boston Health Service staff clinician rather than risk the possibility of being assigned a UMass Boston clinical psychology practicum student for the intake evaluation. This is because a therapeutic relationship with a clinical psychology practicum student may lead to an ethical conflict involving dual relationships, that is, in the future the DCSP student and the clinical psychology practicum student may become fellow students in a UMass Boston class or colleagues at an agency placement.
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate Assistantships are available and awarded upon the recommendation of faculty. Graduate Assistants typically assist faculty with research five hours per week in return for a stipend, tuition remission, and 25% reduction in the curriculum support fee. Applications for becoming a graduate assistant are distributed at the orientation for new students and are also available from the department Administrative Assistant, Liz Sanchez (617-287-7602).
Honors and Awards
Students graduating with the MEd in School Counseling, MS in Mental Health Counseling, MS in Rehabilitation Counseling, MS in Family Therapy or Certificates of Advanced Graduate Study in School Psychology are eligible to receive the Book Award for Excellence in Scholarship in Counseling, the Book Award for Excellence in Scholarship in School Psychology, or the Vincent Cristiani Endowment Award in School Psychology.
RSA Traineeship Grant
The Rehabilitation Counseling Program has a traineeship grant from the Rehabilitation Administration Service, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education. This RSA grant allows the Rehabilitation Counseling Program to provide a reduction in tuition and fees, and provides a small stipend to eligible students in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program. Recipients of the traineeship grant must sign an agreement to work a specified number of years in a state vocational rehabilitation program or a non profit rehabilitation agency/facility that receives funding from a state vocational rehabilitation system in return for the funding.
For more information please contact: Amy Cook, Project Coordinator of the RSA Grant. (amy.cook@umb.edu)