TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State University will host its first-ever Counselor Day on Campus March 7 as a way of providing vital professional development opportunities for high school counselors throughout the state and beyond. The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in ISU's Hulman Memorial Student Union (Dede I, registration).
The event, which will follow the same format as ISU's popular Sycamore Educators Day, is being sponsored by the College of Education's department of counseling in conjunction with the Office of Enrollment Services. The program will be offered free of charge to participants, thanks to support from Indiana Secondary Market for Education Loans, Inc.
A primary goal for the day is to provide counselors with the information they need to better serve their high-school-aged clients, organizers say. It addresses the need to offer more continuing education opportunities for counselors and to keep them abreast of changing guidelines and ideas in the areas of financial aid, athletics, scholarships, university admissions processes and other topics.
"Post-secondary education can be daunting for high school students, and it is critical that school counselors understand how admissions and financial aid operate," said Tonya Balch, assistant director of the school counseling program at Indiana State University. "If counselors have a strong understanding of how higher education operates and the services available to students, then they can ease the transition for students and help de-mystify post secondary education for them."
The featured speaker for the event will be 2002 ISU Distinguished Alumnus Herm Davis, a renowned author, educator and executive director of the National College Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Davis is a nationally recognized expert in financial aid resources for higher education. He has devoted his career to advising, writing and promoting the dissemination of information on financial aid counseling and scholarship information management.
Davis earned his bachelor's in business administration from ISU in 1961, his master's in secondary education, guidance and counseling from ISU in 1963, and his doctorate in higher education administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1978.
He served as director of financial aid at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md. For 15 years before founding and developing College Financial Aid Counseling and Education Services, Inc. and the CASHE Financial Aid System. He also is co-author of "College Financial Aid for Dummies" and the "College Financial Aid Emergency Kit," and author of "College Aid Resources for Education."
Two Indiana State University scholarships will be awarded to two lucky participanting counselors. The winners will then be able to present their scholarships to a student of their choice from their home school who plans to attend Indiana State this fall.
For more information about the day or to register, contact ISU's College of Education at (812) 237-2888 or go to coe.indstate.edu/cdoc
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Contact: Tonya Balch, assistant director, School Counseling Program, Indiana State University, College of Education, (812)237-3459 or tbalch@isugw.indstate.edu
Writer: Maria Doti Greninger, Associate Director, Communications and Marketing, (812) 237-4357 or m-greninger@indstate.edu
ISU Communications and Marketing: (812) 237-3773 or http://www.indstate.edu/news