Professional School Counseling Journal Emerging Scholars Program

To support the next generation of school counselor educators and the school counseling profession,  the Professional School Counseling Emerging Scholars program aims to:

  • Help emerging scholars advance their scholarship, understand the culture of academia and build community with others in a similar place in their career.
  • Improve research quality in the school counseling field, including developing proficient reviewers for and future scholars likely to publish in Professional School Counseling.
  • Assist in diversifying the researcher and academic pipeline in the school counseling profession.

Congratulations to the the first cohort of PSC Emerging Scholars, who completed their work in summer 2025. 

  • Maritza Cha, Ph.D., school counselor, Alhambra Unified School District and adjunct professor (Claremont Graduate University, 2023)
  • Renee Fensom, Ph.D., graduate director of professional school counseling, Buena Vista University (Old Dominion University, 2020)
  • Loidaly González-Rosario, Ph.D., adjunct instructor (University of Tennessee, 2021) 
  • Ashley D. Cosby, Ph.D., school counselor, Atlanta (University of Georgia, 2025)
  • Sarah Kirk, Ph.D., adjunct instructor, Southwestern Oklahoma State University (Capella University, 2023)
  • Betsy Marina Perez, Ph.D., assistant professor, California State University, Northridge (Old Dominion University, 2024)
  • Jhamarcus Pharaoh, Ed.S., high school counselor and doctoral candidate, University of Georgia (December 2025)
  • Nadiya Rosen, Ph.D., assistant professor, University of Central Florida (Florida Atlantic University, 2024)
  • Christina Tillery, Ph.D., seeking university faculty position (Virginia Commonwealth University, 2025)
  • Katherine Wood, Ph.D., assistant professor, Tennessee Tech University (University of Georgia, 2023)

Check out the first view of the Professional School Counseling Journal Emerging Scholars special issue. The final version will be available in late summer 2025.

Eligibility

School counseling doctoral students, as well as practicing school counselors and school counseling faculty in the first 3 years of their career. Individuals representing racial, gender and sexual minorities are especially encouraged to apply.  

Responsibilities and Time Commitment

Each Emerging Scholar will participate in a two-year cohort. During this time, their commitment includes approximately three-five hours a month (during the academic year), including (a) a two-hour meeting each month and (b) at times reading, group work and editorial review-work outside of meetings.

As part of this cohort, members (a) agree to apply to be a Professional School Counseling reviewer at the conclusion of this cohort program/their doctorate (and if selected, to serve for a three-year term), and (b) agree to submit at least one study to Professional School Counseling within the following 18-24 months after completing the cohort.

Application Process

Interested individuals may submit an application by Sept. 29, 2025, at this link. Participants would be chosen by ASCA staff and Professional School Counseling associate editors, including Emerging Scholars Program leaders, later this fall. The first Emerging Scholars program cohort will begin work in first quarter 2026.

Leaders

Emily Goodman-Scott and Sam Steen (associate editors, Emerging Scholars, Professional School Counseling journal)

Questions: Angela Hickman, CAE, ASCA director of research and marketing, ahickman@schoolcounselor.org