Trevecca Nazarene University

Clinical counseling doctorate to become PhD

On Tuesday, March 15, Steve Pusey, Trevecca provost, announced that Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS COC) has given approval for Trevecca to convert its doctoral major in Clinical Counseling from a doctor of education (EdD) to a doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree program. The proposal was approved on the basis of the University’s documenting appropriate existing faculty qualifications to offer the Ph.D., documentation that showed the strong research experience and publications of both full- and part-time faculty teaching in the program. This change will become effective on August 1.

Trevecca has long sought to fulfill its mission of service to the community and the church through providing outstanding graduate programs, beginning with the master of education degree in 1984. In 1998, Trevecca was the first institution of higher education in the Church of the Nazarene to offer a stand-alone doctoral degree, the EdD. with a major in leadership and professional practice, through the School of Education. With this approval, the University now has this same distinction with the PhD.

Pusey congratulated Dr. Peter Wilson, director of graduate psychology, Dr. Susan Lahey, coordinator of the doctoral program, and all program faculty for this significant accomplishment. He added, “During the last few years, the graduate programs in psychology and counseling have been among the most consistent and rapidly-growing academic programs on the campus."