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Graduate School News Archive

Counseling Graduate Student Elected to Top Post of State Association
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, December 11 2008

Danette Heckathorn, University of Arkansas employee and graduate student, will preside over the Arkansas Counseling Association in 2011. However, her recent election as president-elect-elect means a four-year commitment to the state association.

The mission of the association, which has six divisions, is to promote public confidence and trust in the counseling profession and to support the membership through representation and training.

Heckathorn has a graduate assistantship as a counselor-in-residence for the university, while completing her doctoral degree in counselor education. A past president of the Arkansas College Counseling Association, one of the state organization’s divisions, her background includes work as a college counselor, associate dean of students, alcohol and other drug-prevention outreach coordinator and instructor. She has worked at the University of Central Arkansas, a two-year college in Georgia and Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.

She has been active in the Arkansas College Counseling Association, serving as secretary in 2002-2004, president-elect in 2004-2006 and president in 2006-2008. Throughout her career experiences, she has served on many committees at the state level including the Arkansas Collegiate Drug Education Committee.

Heckathorn has received honors for her work as a counselor including the ArCCA College Counselor of the Year in 2003 and the Arkansas Mental Health Counselors Association, Licensed Associate Counselor of the Year in 2003. More recently, she was selected as the American College Counseling Association Scholarship recipient for the 2008 ACA Legislative Institute.

Heckathorn was elected to her latest post with the statewide group at its annual conference last month in Fort Smith. She will serve as president-elect for the next two years, learning the ropes the first year and helping to run the annual conference the following year. In 2011, she will preside over the conference, which attracts about 800 participants. She will continue to have some responsibilities as immediate past-president in 2012.

At the same conference in Fort Smith, two faculty members from the University of Arkansas were honored. Roy Farley, professor of counselor education in the College of Education and Health Professions, received the Rosenthal Award for the Most Outstanding Counselor Educator and Supervisor of the Year. Farley, who holds a doctorate from the University of Arkansas, master’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas and bachelor’s degree from Henderson State University, also serves as chairman of the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.

Rebecca Newgent, associate professor of counselor education, received the Roger D. Herring Researcher of the Year Award. Newgent, who holds a doctorate from the University of Akron and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Kent State University, also recently received the 2008 Outstanding Individual Achievement Award for Tenured Counselor Educators from the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.

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