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University of Wyoming

Kent Becker Award

Kent Becker receives Best Training and Mentorship Award at the American Counseling Association’s Annual Conference

A University of Wyoming College of Education faculty member’s impact on the professional development of his students has received recognition from the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC).

The IAMC presented Kent Becker, department chairperson and associate professor of counselor education, with its Best Training and Mentorship Award at the American Counseling Association’s annual conference in Kansas City in April. The award honors “an individual who has been a significant mentor to graduate students, emerging professionals, educators and/or supervisors in the field of marriage and family counseling.”

Students in the counselor education doctoral program nominated Becker for the award.

“It probably meant more to me than almost any other recognition I’ve received,” he says.

“Kent engages students far above what would even be considered excellent in higher education,” doctoral student Jeanne Rothaupt, a nominator, says. “He is creative, warm, knowledgable, an excellent counselor himself, and very approachable. One quality that I particularly appreciate as a student is his ability to listen deeply, and draw out the best of who we are. This is only one of his many exceptional qualitities as a counselor educator.”

Becker and his colleagues in the Department of Counselor Education place a high priority on mentoring graduate students. While some programs assign advising and guidance of students to others, UW faculty members assume full responsibility for that effort.

Mentoring requires significant formal and informal contact, beyond the official program structure.

“It’s being available and open to a wide variety of conversations,” he says. “In many respects, good mentoring is the same as good advising.”

Mentoring also includes facilitating student participation in state, regional and national conferences, Becker says.
Becker and his counselor education peers place a high priority on developing community among students and faculty.
“We’re trying to build a few more traditions for the program,” he says.

One of those new traditions launches in August, when departmental faculty and students open the semester with a team-building retreat at nearby Vedauwoo recreation area. Assistant professor Michael Morgan and office assistant Sara Solis are coordinating that event, designed to introduce new students to their peers, the faculty and advanced students.

Becker acknowledges the impact of formal and informal mentoring in his own development. He credits role models and advisers from the University of Northern Colorado, where he did his graduate work, with shaping a vision of the future and his role as a professional counselor. UNC faculty member David Gonzales “walked the talk.” Judith Praul, who chaired his doctoral work, stressed the importance of perspective and balance and helped him navigate the occasionally rocky waters of academia.

UNC faculty member William Walsh helped him see marriage and family counseling as an option and ultimately a good fit for Becker. Walsh presented marriage and family counseling in a way that made sense, reducing Kent’s early apprehension about the chaotic nature of the specialty.

Walsh also provided a mantra that Becker shares with each of his classes: “Once you go systems, you never go back.” Understanding marriage and family issues as a system yields offers alternatives and options never possible when focusing on the individual, he says.