MEMORANDUM


Date:  1 February 2008

To:    Graduate Coordinators and Staff

From:  Patricia Telles-Irvin
       Vice President for Student Affairs

RE:    Newly Appointed Director of the Counseling Center


It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Dr. Sherry
Benton as the new Director of the Counseling Center. Her appointment begins
today, February 1, 2008. She comes from Kansas State University where she
has been highly effective in her various roles as an administrator,
clinician and faculty. She held the position of Assistant Director of the
Counseling Center and Training Director of their APA Accredited Pre-doctoral
Psychology Internship Program since 1995. She was successful in leading
three APA re-accreditation processes during her tenure. She was also an
associate professor in Counseling and Educational Psychology in the College
of Education.  Prior to arriving at Kansas State University, she had been
the Director of Outpatient Services at St. Francis Hospital and Medical
Center, Chemical Dependency Treatment Services in Topeka, Kansas.

Dr. Benton is a licensed psychologist and a Diplomate of the American Board
of Professional Psychology. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology
at the University of Kansas in 1991 and her undergraduate degree at the
University of Nebraska in Secondary Education, History and Psychology. Her
professional affiliations include the American Psychological Association
Society of Counseling Psychology, where she serves as chair of the Section
on University and College Counseling Centers, and the Association of
Counseling Center Training Agencies, where she serves as Past President.

Dr. Benton's publications span various topics in particular, college student
drinking and substance abuse, psychological assessment, college student
mental health, and methods of evidence based treatment and outcome measures.
In her most recent book, she served as co-editor of College Student Mental
Health: Effective Services and Strategies Across Campus (2006). This
contribution to this area of literature has been very well received across
the country. Other of her significant works that have had implications for
counseling centers' operations are "Evidence-based practice: Impact on
counseling center practitioners" (2006) and "Identifying problems and
tracking progress of college students in treatment" (2006), both presented
at the American Psychological Association conferences. Finally, she has been
at the forefront of evaluating the trends in the increase of severity of
mental health issues among college students'. This research has been helpful
in developing policies and implementing new interventions on campus. 

I ask that you join me in welcoming her to the university.

I look forward to working with her and enjoying her contributions to the
field and to the lives of our students.