Department’s Commitment to Diversity

Our Department’s Policy on Diversity

The Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, as well as Marquette University as a whole, are committed to social justice. These commitments are reflected in the Marquette University Statement on Human Dignity and Diversity, which reads, "As a Catholic, Jesuit university, Marquette recognizes and cherishes the dignity of each individual regardless of age, culture, faith, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, disability or social class." Our Department emphasizes the importance of diversity and multicultural influences on development in all our programs, including our coursework, research, as well as throughout our practicum and internship training. The Department expects that all faculty and students will engage in respectful explorations of issues regarding diversity and multiculturalism as we develop more fully our commitment to social justice. In addition, faculty and students are all expected to explore their own attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors with regard to various forms of discrimination so that the quality of our research, teaching, and practice improves.

As part of our commitment to diversity and social justice, the Department is working to increase racial and ethnic diversity among our students and faculty. While we are committed to all forms of diversity, at this point we have decided to focus our energies on minority student recruitment and retention rather than dilute our efforts by targeting multiple forms of diversity. We aim to increase the number of ethnic and racial minority students in our programs so that it is reflective of the United States population in general and it also reaches the level of critical mass recommended by Ponterotto, Alexander, and Geiger (1995) for optimizing students’ learning in the field of counseling and counseling psychology. Consequently, our goal is to increase minority student enrollment to 30% of the total student body. To reach this goal, we have developed a Minority Student Recruitment and Retention Plan that focuses on: (1) identifying and implementing the best strategies for recruiting minority students; (2) improving the physical and social environment in our Department so that it is welcoming of diverse students; and (3) developing policies and marketing materials aimed at increasing applications from qualified members of underrepresented groups. We intend that the plan will evolve as we gain experience with its implementation, and that students and faculty will continue to work together on both the implementation and the continued evolution of the Plan. The Department Chair will be responsible for monitoring the development and implementation of this Plan on a semester basis.

Diversity Resources for Students

Professional organizations (click link to visit page)