The College of Doctoral Studies (CDS) counseling academic unit currently consists of the counselor education and supervision program. It is our desire that you leave this program and become global citizens, critical thinkers, effective communicators and responsible leaders fully equipped to make a profound difference in the lives and communities in which you work.

The mission of the counselor education and supervision doctor of philosophy (PhD) program aims to prepare current counselors to become counselor educators, advanced practitioners and counseling supervisors. Grand Canyon University’s program offers students a rigorous curriculum designed to strengthen their counseling knowledge and skills through didactic and experiential training in research, scholarship, leadership and advocacy in and out of the classroom. To facilitate these outcomes, faculty and students engage in learning experiences that support them in developing:

• Collaborative relationships with faculty and other professionals in the field of counseling that will enhance their expertise in an area or areas of professional identity and functioning
• Knowledge and skills in designing, conducting and reporting on research and scholarship that makes a significant impact on the field and the lives of others
• Leadership skills in counselor education, supervision, advanced clinical practice, research and scholarship and social justice action

Counselor education and supervision program objectives are designed so that learners will:

• Develop their identity as counselor educators
• Develop and demonstrate their teaching pedagogy and be able to demonstrate course design, delivery and evaluation methods appropriate to counselor education learning outcomes
• Study theories of clinical supervision and apply learned skills in professional supervision settings
• Study research methods, design, implementation and analysis of quantitative and qualitative research; critically analyze and evaluate scholarly research, develop and implement research designs and produce scholarly reports that disseminate findings to the profession of counseling
• Study and demonstrate theories of leadership and advocacy and model what service looks like to be a professional counselor
• Demonstrate a sense of multicultural awareness and continue to gain cultural competence appropriate in all areas of counseling, education and supervision