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UW Professor Named Recipient of Counseling Leadership Award

head portrait of a woman
Amanda DeDiego

University of Wyoming Assistant Professor Amanda DeDiego recently was named the recipient of the Robert H. Rencken Emerging Professional Leader Award for 2019.

The award recognizes an American Counseling Association (ACA) member who has demonstrated the potential to become a dedicated leader of the counseling profession in future years.

DeDiego will be recognized for her accomplishment at the 2019 ACA Conference and Expo March 28-31 in New Orleans. She will receive complimentary registration to attend the conference and accept the award.

DeDiego entered the counseling profession to make a difference in the lives of those around her. As a counselor educator, she has the ability to effect positive change throughout the profession by molding the future counselors that come through the UW program.

“I hope to be able to help contribute to and shape our process of training and supporting counselors,” says DeDiego, who teaches at UW-Casper. “My job is really to help provide resources for our community. The better we can train counselors in the university setting and support them in the community, the better we are able to provide critical services for clients.”

“Students tell how Dr. DeDiego’s mentoring support and knowledge help them realize the long-reaching effects of their counseling efforts,” says UW Professor Mary Alice Bruce, who nominated DeDiego for the award. “Our teaching and learning community, as well as the counseling profession, is better because of Dr. DeDiego’s leadership.”

Beyond UW, DeDiego is a leader and advocate for counseling and counseling professionals throughout Wyoming and the nation. She is currently co-chair of the Emerging Leaders Program for the Rocky Mountain Association for Counselor Education and Supervision; publicity chair for the Association for Creativity in Counseling; and co-chair for Chi Sigma Iota (CSI)-sponsored student posters at the ACA conference. Once, she even took time out of a trip to Washington, D.C., for ACA Institute for Leadership Training to meet with U.S. Sen. John Barrasso to discuss Medicare coverage for counseling services.

DeDiego was invited to serve on the board of the Wyoming Counseling Association (WCA), serving as secretary, then as state president. She has helped to elevate the counseling profession by organizing an interdisciplinary conference including social workers and addiction specialists. DeDiego also has facilitated a number of workshops throughout the state in partnership with various groups. In addition to teaching at UW, she serves as the faculty adviser for the CSI student honor society.

“Of special note is Dr. DeDiego’s leadership and advocacy for our state,” Bruce says. “As a brand-new tenure-track faculty member, her positive leadership abilities were evident. When elected to the WCA, she energized the leadership team and helped to bridge the gap between counseling and social work by initiating a successful interdisciplinary state conference.”

DeDiego’s experiences provide an example for the students under her mentorship to follow in her footsteps toward leadership.

“I love to include my students in conference or community presentations, in writing and in research. I hope to empower them to share their knowledge and skills throughout their careers as community stakeholders,” DeDiego says.

 

 

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


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