Two concentrations in Louisiana Tech’s College of Education received accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. The CACREP granted accreditation to Tech’s clinical mental health counseling and school counseling, which are both concentrations within the counseling and guidance master’s program. “It is always important to have one’s programs, faculty, and students reviewed by an external, objective evaluator,” said Dr. Donna Thomas, department chair of psychology and behavioral sciences. “Achieving CACREP accreditation demonstrates adherence to nationally recognized standards in counselor education. It is added assurance for our various constituencies that Louisiana Tech University produces a quality product.” Both concentrations received accreditation for the next eight years. Thomas said CACREP adopted a new set of standards for accreditation in 2009, and new courses needed to be created to fulfill the new requirements. “In order to comply, we first had to create new programs — meaning the programs we had previously offered, our 33-hour school counseling concentration and 48-hour general counseling concentration, were not sufficient in the number of credit hours required to even be considered for CACREP accreditation,” she said. “We had to create numerous new courses to adapt those concentrations — making them a 48-hour school counseling concentration and a 60-hour clinical mental health concentration.” CACREP assesses a program’s learning environment, professional identity and professional practice, Thomas said, and each program has specific standards that must be met. “Our site reviewers’ written report indicated we met all standards — not a single standard unmet,” she said. “We obviously are extremely proud of that fact.” Thomas said each standard listed by CACREP was addressed and assessed in multiple courses. “We enjoyed tremendous support from our administration, alumni and field site supervisors,” she said. “This was a huge effort that we pulled off in a relatively short period of time. It could not have been achieved without the collaboration and cooperation of everyone involved.”