James C. Hurst

Organizational and Political Issues in Counseling Psychology Recommendations for Change

The Organizational and Political Issues Group focused on managerial, structural, and political issues in counseling psychology. Papers were presented by 11 counseling psychologists on 13 basic issues that had been identified by the planning

The Matthew Shepard Tragedy: Management of a Crisis.

How the students and faculty of the University of Wyoming responded to the unfathomable—the brutal and hateful murder of one of their own.

Stone Cutters of the Crown Jewel

The Division 17 Executive Board was in the midst of its midyear meeting and locked in difficult debate over how to contain spiraling costs and yet provide the membership of the division with the best possible package of services and most effective leadership possible. Among the options being considered was the exclusion of The Counseling Psychologist (TCP) editor from the Executive Board annual midyear meeting, along with other involvements in committee and ad hoc activities. It was within this context that I and several others raised our voices in support of maintaining the TCPeditor’s involvement in the affairs of the Executive Board as well as other leadership incentives within the division. During one particularly impassioned exchange, I referred to TCP as “the crown jewel” of the division and emphasized the fact that the editor was, without question, one of the most influential and critical leaders of our discipline and profession. My observation through the years has been that our journal editors have not been recognized or acknowledged as the leaders that they are, and the question of exclusion had arisen in the Executive Board because of that failure to perceive them as leaders of critical importance. In its wisdom, the Executive Board voted to retain the editor as a participant in the midyear meeting as well as in other major deliberations and functions. The “Thirty Years of The Counseling Psychologist” commemoration now provides the opportunity to embellish thoughts about the critical importance of TCPand the 30 years of leadership of its four editors in determining the identity, health, and welfare of our counseling psychology specialty and of Division 17. Upon graduation from high school, I volunteered to be drafted into military service, and after a year of basic and advanced specialized training, I was commissioned as a U.S. Army Ranger. Although I did not acquire many specific skills that would transfer to civilian life, I did learn to recognize the importance of competent leadership, and I became sensitive to those persons and functions who played roles that were critical to the success of any mission. As I read the manuscripts of our four TCPeditors, I was reminded of those leadership attributes and functions that have played such a central role in the birthing and development of our specialty. The parallels between the TCPeditors and Ranger unit leaders is so surprisingly striking that I will use the comparison to make some points that I hope will lead to a fuller appreciation of the significance of the 30 years of TCPand its editors.