Stephanie Shorts was recently selected as a Graduate Assistant, as Kevin Foose had to retire his position upon entering Practicum. Stephanie will hold the GA position from the summer 2009 semester, through the 2009-2010 academic year, until she begins Practicum.
Justin Levitov and Ellen Levitov Baxter delivered a paper presentation in Fall 2008 on self-defeating behavior at the annual Louisiana Counseling Association (LCA) Conference in Baton Rouge. The paper presentation was recently selected to be reoffered at next year’s 2009 conference. These s “Best in Show” papers are chosen based upon attendees’ evaluations and offered to a very limited number of presenters.
Carmen Balthazar '08 was awarded the Regina Mathews Oehmig Award for Excellence in Counseling at the 2009 College of Social Sciences Award Ceremony. Carmen was honored for her enthusiasm for scholarly activities while maintaining a dedication to family, life, and living, and a demonstration of providing service to others with a compassion for and faith in humanity.
Leslie E. Midtbo, M.S. in 2008, is now a full-time doctoral student in the Counselor Education program at the University of New Orleans, and she also works part-time as a counselor at Family Service of Greater New Orleans. Leslie serves on the Executive Board of the Alpha Eta Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota and fully supports the mission of CSI to promote scholarship, research, professionalism, leadership and excellence in counseling.
Matthew R. Wegmann, M.S. in 2008, is in the Ph.D. program at the University of New Orleans, under the Crescent City Doctoral Scholarship Program. He is also the School Counselor at Holy Cross High School in New Orleans.
Parke E. Smith, M.S.'08, is enrolled in the Ph. D. Program at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.
Michaella A. Neal '94 is the Test Coordinator and School Counselor at The Ursuline Academy, located at 2635 State Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Dr. LeAnne Steen published several book chapters and a journal article in the last few years on play therapy, supervision, and ethics. Two of the books were publications of the American Counseling Association on Critical Incidents in Counseling, where she was selected by the editors to respond to critical incidents in a clinically appropriate way.
The Graduate Counseling Department successfully co-hosted the third annual Louisianian Association for Play Therapy Conference, The Many Faces of Play Therapy on March 6 and 7 at Loyola University. The conference attracted 150 counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, and pediatricians from across the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. Dr. LeAnne Steen, Interim Chair of the Counseling Department, is a Board member for Louisiana Association for Play Therapy (LAPT).
Dr. LeAnne Steen presented several papers on play therapy in the last several years for the Louisiana Association for Play Therapy on theory, grief, limit setting, supervision, and filial therapy.
Steen was invited by Louisiana State University Health Science Center to present presentations in 2008 for their Play Therapy CEU program. In addition, Steen has presented research on supervision, counter-transference, junior faculty, and youthful counselors at conferences in southwestern United States.