CES Doctoral Students Receive ARCA Award

CES Doctoral Students Camelia Shaheed, Toni Saia and Zeynep Yilmaz were presented with a Presidential Award of Excellence by the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association for their work in spearheading the effort that led to the adoption of the Disability-Related Competencies for Counselors, which was endorsed by the American Counseling Association Governing Council at their April, 2019 meeting.  The award was presented at the ARCA/ACA Conference in New Orleans.  The competencies were initiated by the students as a class project.  Acting on their commitment to advocating for changes that help counselors live out their commitment to social justice, the students developed a white paper and a draft set of competencies, and then proposed to the president at the time, Dr. Henry McCarthy, that ARCA adopt the project and carry it forward.  ARCA then appointed a task force, co-chaired by University of Arizona faculty member, Dr. Linda Shaw, Dr. McCarthy, and Dr. Martha  Chapin to continue the work initiated by the students.  Zeynep Yilmaz was also appointed to the Task Force to represent the students on the working group.  In making the presentation of the award ARCA President Noel Ysassi noted the students’  efforts on behalf of people with disabilities and the profession of counseling, and congratulated them on their exemplary advocacy work.