From Dr. Frank Main, Counselor Education Department Chairperson: Welcome to the Counselor Education Department at Western Illinois University. Please feel free to contact our faculty or staff if we can answer your questions or assist you in any way.
The Counselor Education Program was recently reaccredited (CACREP) until 2016 making WIU the longest continually accredited counseling program in the State of Illinois. WIU students have exciting opportunities to participate in several university-community partnerships. Recently, Dr. Holly Nikels established a mentoring project for youth at risk with the Rock Island District by winning an AT&T grant which will support the project through 2011.
Program faculty offer students excellent scholarship across both specialty tracks in School or Community Counseling. The Community Counseling faculty which include Drs. Ed Hamann, Leslie O’Ryan, and Carrie Alexander-Albritton bring a wealth of Community Counseling experience from private practice, residential chemical dependency, and non-profit community mental health. The School Counseling faculty includes Drs. Holly Nikels and William McFarland who offer specialty expertise in specialty populations and programs within school settings.
Faculty scholarship and expertise is exemplified by Drs. Leslie O’Ryan and Bill McFarland who were recent recipients of the prestigious North Central Association of Counselor Education & Supervision Research Award.
WIU graduates enjoy careers as school or community counselors. School counselors hold a variety of positions in K-12 schools and community counselors hold positions as individual, group and family therapists, clinic supervisors, and administrators. Finally, twenty percent of WIU graduates successfully complete the Ph.D. at universities across the country.
Please explore our website to discover what WIU’s Counselor Education Department has to offer!