Contact: Sammy McDavid
The master's degree program in rehabilitation counselor education at Mississippi State is getting another official thumbs up from a national accreditation organization.
The university recently was notified that the Council on Rehabilitation Education is continuing its approval for the graduate curriculum that currently enrolls 20 students on the Starkville campus and another 20 at eight distance-learning locations around the state.
In his report to MSU President Malcolm Portera, commission president Marvin D. Kuehn said "the program is characterized by a strong curriculum with well-qualified faculty preparing students for contemporary practice in rehabilitation counseling."
Kuehn also said a survey conducted as part of the reaccreditation process found both current students and alumni "believe they are highly prepared in almost every content area required of rehabilitation counselors."
Based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., CORE was founded in 1975, the same year it first awarded MSU accreditation. Its latest notification to the Starkville school comes eight years after the last announcement of approval.
MSU's 48-semester-hour graduate course of study is offered through the department of counselor education/educational psychology.
Program coordinator Glen Hendren said a CORE review team visiting campus in February praised the professional collaborations that exist between the department and two special centers located at MSU.
"The team recognized both the external research grant opportunities and potential course offerings that are available because of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center in Blindness and Low Vision and the T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability," Hendren said. "We are very proud of the close working relationship that has developed between these two centers and our faculty and staff."
As is traditional with the CORE accreditation process, approved programs must submit annual reports so the organization can constantly monitor their quality. Failure to provide the reports by a specified time can lead to a loss of accreditation.
In addition to being CORE approved for a quarter century, Hendren said the MSU graduate program is proud of having awarded the state's first rehabilitation counseling degree provided entirely by distance learning. Jackson State University, which has the only other such program in the state, cooperated in that 1995 achievement by offering several of the courses required for the student's graduation.