Professional Counseling is a relatively young profession and a newly emerging scholarly field. As people started learning about this field that the central focus of Professional Counseling is on promoting good mental health, this field is growing by leaps and bounds and this field's popularity started soaring higher and higher annually. Several new ideas from the multiculturalism and diversity counseling literature, such as creating a just and mentally healthy society through social justice advocacy initiatives and efforts, have made professional counseling even more attractive [1]. 

Naturally, more and more research scholarship is now needed to inform counselors of the best counseling theories, techniques and practices to meet the growing needs of this trendy, increasing and flourishing profession. Moreover, as explained in the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethical Standards [2], "Counselors who conduct research are encouraged to contribute to the knowledge base of the profession and promote a clearer understanding of the conditions that lead to a healthy and more just society". The present-day counseling profession is not only focusing on the welfare of the clients but also on the betterment of the society where these people live. 

Many universities and colleges in the United States and many other western countries are offering courses in mental health counseling-relate122222d fields and hastily hiring new faculty members to fulfill the continuing need for trained and highly qualified counselor educators. In many cases, jobs are offered even when the applicants are just doctoral degree candidates and have not yet completed or defended their dissertation research.

Significance of Research Scholarship in Counseling

It is essential to advance the profession of counseling through rigorous research scholarship and assess and determine the effectiveness of clinical practices, inform school-based and community based interventions and advocate in favor of marginalized groups or minority populations to help society as a whole [3].  

Cirecie West-Olatunji [4], past president of the American Counseling Association, in her presidential address, underscored the fact that counseling is increasingly becoming popular and important. "There are four primary reasons for this impetus. First, by prioritizing counseling research, we move forward as a discipline to our next developmental step-from the conceptual to the empirical. Second, there is a need for more empirical articles that reflect our pedagogical perspectives. Third, as many counseling students have lamented, our discipline still lacks a sufficient number of research studies to provide a foundation for projects in research scholarship. Finally, counseling research gives voice to our lived experiences as counselors and serves as a buffer against marginalization within the mental health research community [4].

In this professional discipline, greater emphasis must be placed on research in counseling. She presents four significant reasons for the impetus for research in counseling as follows:

"There are four primary reasons for this impetus. First, by prioritizing counseling research, we move forward as a discipline to our next developmental step-from the conceptual to the empirical. Second, there is a need for more empirical articles that reflect our pedagogical perspective. Third, as many counseling students have lamented, our discipline still lacks a sufficient number of research studies to provide a foundation for research projects. Finally, counseling research gives voice to our lived experiences as counselors and serves as a buffer against marginalization within the mental health research community [4]". 

The importance of research scolarship in the profession of counseling cannot be overly emphasized. Clearly, research is an essential, critical and indispensable necessity of the counseling profession. Here are some significant threats to the counseling profession and society which may be caused by the lack of research production in the counseling scholarship.

Lack of Research Productivity: Threats to the Counseling Profession

Threat to the Counseling Faculty's Job, Tenure and Promotion: Most universities and colleges in the United States offer job contracts to the counseling faculty according to the following percentages of work requirements:

Teaching 50%

A professor may be required to teach a minimum of five courses, generally three courses in the fall and two courses in the spring or vice-versa. 

Research 30%

Next to teaching, research and publications are considered quite an essential job requirement. Since the first job contract is for six years, the chairperson or head of the department evaluates the performance of the faculty after three years and makes the necessary recommendations to the faculty.

A lack of faculty's research productivity becomes a serious threat and it could become a serious reason for losing the job, tenure, or promotion according to the status of faculty's rank (an assistant professor, an associate, or a full professor).

Professional Service 20%

Professional service may include a wide variety of services, including service on department committees, college committees, university committees, etc. It may also include serving on the state, national and international committees of the state, national, or international associations. It may also require service on the editorial boards of various journals of the profession.

Threat to the CACREP Accreditation

A poor research scholarship and publications record of the counselor education faculty could become a significant threat to the loss of the CACREP accreditation, Several standards of the 2016 CACREP Accreditation Manual mandate the faculty to meet requirements of research and publications, For instance, under them, SECTION 1: THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Standards D and E require the students and faculty to find and engage in research opportunities. 

Importance of Research and Program Evaluation (CACREP Standards)

The eight common core areas represent the foundational knowledge required of all entry-level counselor education graduates. Therefore, counselor education programs must document where each of the following standards is covered:

• Professional counseling orientation and ethical practice

• Social and cultural diversity

• Human growth and development

• Career development

• Counseling and helping relationships

• Group counseling and group work 

• Assessment and testing 

• Research and program evaluation

Clearly, the common core area listed above as "h" of "Research and program evaluation" is mandatory, indispensable and crucial for the CACREP Accreditation.

Some Examples of Research and Program Evaluation Standards Include

• The importance of research in advancing the counseling profession, including how to critique research to inform counseling practice

• Identification of evidence-based counseling practices and needs assessments

• Qualitative, quantitative and mixed research methods

• Statistical methods used in conducting research and program evaluation [5]

2014 Code of American Counseling Association Ethics: Significance of Research

Section G of the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics addresses the significance of Research and Publications and discusses various ethics as they apply to research and publications from page 15 to page 17. 

The very first part of the Introduction of the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics highlights the significance of "Research in Counseling" as follows.

"Counselors who conduct research are encouraged to contribute to the profession's knowledge base and promote a clearer understanding of the conditions that lead to a healthy and more just society. Counselors support the efforts of researchers by participating fully and willingly whenever possible. Counselors minimize bias and respect diversity in research design [2].

Grant Funding and Research are Directly Related

Several research topics and many important questions in counseling need to be investigated through research. These topics include instructional methods, online learning, teaching, self-confidence, etc. [6]. Unfortunately, many counseling educators and doctoral students with poor research and publications records have no chance of receiving the grant funds as these funds are dependent on applicant's solid history of previous research and a vast number of publications. 

Of course, grant funding is critical to academics, research scholars, their departments, colleges and universities, but as mentioned above grant funding generally depends upon faculty members' scholarly productivity. Many well-known institutions of outstanding reputation, such as The National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Education, offer financial resources to support research that often leads to peer-reviewed publications [7]. Howver, without the previous research or publication records, not everybody can qualify for these grants.

Conclusion

The rigorous "Research" is the core force or the heart and soul of "Professional Counseling." Without thorough and rigorous research and an extensive record of publications, counseling as a profession will not advance. Without research-based facts, pieces of evidence, proof and new research findings, this young field will not succeed in helping people with their mental health problems. In addition, without vital research or evidence-based counseling theories, counseling concepts and many techniques and strategies, this profession will not progress and could lose its validity or authenticity. 

We already have cited four significant research-related professional realities of professional counseling that are indispensable, without which the counseling profession will lose its identity and existence. First, a solid, robust and rigorous research and publication record is a prerequisite and mandatory for a new and young faculty member to receive tenure and promotion. Second, without a good research and publications record, a faculty member could become a threat to the CACREP Accreditation. A faculty member with poor research and publications is a parasite on the counseling program, regardless of whether it is a master's or doctor's degree program. 

Third, among all the eight core areas of foundational knowledge of professional counseling, the area of "research and program evaluation" is essential, mandatory and indispensable. Again, if any focus on research, program and publications is missing or lopsided, it will deeply hurt the counseling program. Fourth, as described above in the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics, Section G, "Research in Counseling," is a stunning warning that any deficiency in this section is a direct and serious violation of the research in counseling which will not be tolerated and the counseling program will face some serious consequences" [2].

As a result of the lack of research and publications, several colleges and universities have noted serious flaws in their counseling programs. For this reason, many chairs, department heads and college deans are concerned about seriously increasing the research productivity of their counseling faculty members, both in quantity and quality. Naturally, the decisions on tenure, salary and promotion are all now influenced by research and publications [8]. Most of the research scholars and many counseling faculty members are concerned about increasing research productivity throughout the country.

Professor and Dean of the School of Professional Counseling, Dr. Jeff Crane and Prof. and the Director of Research, Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu focused on the following two major concepts during their college faculty research team meetings on each alternate Friday to discuss various strategies to proactively enhance research and publication activities of the faculty members of the School of Professional Counseling and Doctoral Program in Counselor Education and Supervision.

Research Matters

It is extremely important and faculty must spend considerable time and effort to take research and publications seriously in the field of counseling. 

Enhance Research Scholarship

We must create a positive and productive research culture at our School of Professional Counseling and in the Doctoral Program of Counselor Education and Supervision. We must move from inertia and sluggishness to a very active and fast speed of producing publications through research initiatives and research collaborations. 

Before our doctoral program in counseling started in 2014, Lindsey Wilson College was exclusively a teaching institution. With the advent of the doctoral degree program in Counselor Education and Supervision, Lindsey Wilson College has become a research institution now poised to produce several doctoral degree scholars and researchers. Focus on rigorous research scholarship is not only a choice but it is a mandatory requirement.

Research Matters at Lindsey Wilson College 

It is crucial that our students recently enrolled in the doctoral program are capable of conducting ethically acceptable and methodologically sound research. Through research experiences, we aim to enhance our students' academic excellence, scholarship and creative activities. To help and guide our graduate students to conduct research successfully, our faculty members must also be actively engaged in research. They must demonstrate their competence and excellence through their own active research and publications.

We hope that through our research productivity, we will be able to raise the profile of our college to stand tallest among other sister institutions in Appalachia as the Beacon of excellence, academic vigor and pride. Eventually, our college's greater reputation and enhanced prestige would attract more and more students to pursue their degrees in higher education at Lindsey Wilson College, a center for excellence in research. 

Because of our expertise in certain areas of research, for instance, mental health issues of the Appalachian Americans, our college could become a cynosure or a center of attraction for national and international scholars. 

In 2020, three faculty members from the School of Professional Counseling and Doctor's Degree Program in Counselor Education and Supervision co-edited a much-needed book on the Appalachian Americans' mental health issues titled, Appalachian Americans: Issues and Concerns for Counseling and Psychotherapy. As a matter of pride, our 18 faculty members and 9 graduate students from our doctoral and masters degree programs also contributed their book chapters to this highly praised and valued textbook on the mental health issues of the Appalachian people.

If we consider Lindsey Wilson College, an institution of higher learning, a community of research scholars. We must ask what would be our identity and what would be our professional legacy? Naturally, our legacy and professional identity are directly related to our research accomplishments, enhancing our visibility and establishing our identity as "Research scholars". 

To continue the recently established tradition of scholarship, again many of our faculty members and graduate students have already submitted their scholarly contributions to our next textbook, Counseling Aging Clients: Some Common Challenges of Gerontology, edited by Dean Crane and Prof. Sandhu. The Beacon, a scholarly journal under the superb editorship of Dr. Darlene Vaughn and the much-experienced editorial board members, provides many opportunities to the young and much excited new scholars to freely express their thoughts, ideas and some new creative dreams through new and beautiful Vistas of the Beacon. 

Creating a Positive and Productive Research Culture

It is imperative and quite indispensable to create a positive and productive research culture that encourages, mentors and financially supports research scholars and promotes and values their research projects for their excellence. In addition, in a positive, productive, healthy, warm and caring research culture, research scholars and administrators collaborate, show respect for one another and support high-quality research projects with funds, guidance, encouragement and exceptional technical knowledge. Positive and productive research culture is generally conducive to research initiatives, explorations and collaborations. The enthusiastic and young scholars are encouraged to value the importance of developing a coherent and focused line of research scholarship to establish their unique place in the research literature of their special and paramount interests.

The positive and productive research culture may be guided, funded, managed and administered by the administrators, senior research scholars and young research scholars with an impressive record of publications. Furthermore, this positive and productive research culture could only be enhanced by the scholars through their voluntary, intentional, collaborative and proactive activities and by some other enthusiastic researcher scholars and professionals who are knowledgeable and technically experts willing to share their knowledge and provide the necessary guidance.

The environment of the positive, productive and warm research culture must be inclusive, diverse, fair, loving and caring, where everyone can fulfil his or her potential through hardwork, intelligence and dedication without the fear of lack of funds, support and guidance and of course without the threats of jealousies, destructive criticisms and fear of negative competition and non-collaborations. 

Creating an Elite Community of Research Scholars: Changing 

Research Culture on the Campuses of the Colleges or Universities: We believe that the professionals interested in research collaborations and working jointly on several research projects can create an elite community of research scholars. While creating networking opportunities to conduct action, empirical, theoretical, transnational and international research in education and social sciences, these research scholars bring much prestige, greater attention and popularity to the institutions wherever they choose to work. An elite community of research scholars with a positive and productive research culture is spontaneously created. They focus on innovative strategies imperative to enhance research activities through a new scholarly environment conducive to new research initiatives, explorations and collaborations. 

This elite group of scholars can also help the other faculty members generally not interested in research activities engage in some research initiatives through encouragement, guidance and collaborations. With the administration's leadership and especially with the encouragement of the Dean or Director of Research, these faculty members previously not interested in research and publications could be motivated to engage in research projects of their interest and prestige. They will also be able to create a trajectory of their research initiatives and accomplishments.

A Special Attention to Multicultural Research Scholarship in Counseling

West-Olatunji and Wolfgang [9] urge the research scholars to pay special attention to advancing multicultural and social justice competence in all counseling research projects. Unfortunately, after several years of research on culturally diverse populations, many counselors still have limited knowledge about resilience, the intersectionality of identity and the psychological impact of systemic oppression on culturally marginalized clients. As many multicultural research scholars have failed how to conceptualize, design, conduct and interpret counseling research, the lives of many minority clients remain in constant problem as very little attention has been given to cultural competence in multicultural research.

At the heart of criticisms about counseling research, there are very clearly some historical issues of item bias, validity and reliability. As we cannot remove our marginalizing lens in research to find or unveil the truths, we fail to improve the lives of those who need it the most to improve their lives desperately. There are certainly some big and small cracks in the foundations of multicultural research, such as historically noted issues of item biases, reliability and validity still mask the truths in multicultural Research [4].

One of the world-renowned multicultural research scholars, Pedersen [10] described "multiculturalism" as the fouth force in counseling, following other three forces called, "psychoanalysis," "humanism," and behaviorism." As counselors or other mental health professionals, we must become culturally sensitive, competent and appreciative of our clients' cultural values, worldviews, cultural beliefs and cultural backgrounds for the counseling to be effective [1].

These days, the profession of counseling honors and celebrates "diversity" and promotes "social justice." These two core values of counseling deeply influence all aspects of professional counseling, including the counseling "research and scholarship." Furthermore, O'Hara et al. [11] assert that because all research affects and is affected by cultural and cross-cultural dynamics, all research can be described as a "multicultural research." We further add that all counseling dyads are always multicultural dyads due to variations in the counselor-client personality variables of race, culture, gender, age differences and sexual orientations [12]. "Additionally, research is a system composed of multiple parties, including researchers, participants, reviewers and readers, each with unique cultural identities and norms. Therefore, whether acknowledged or not, dynamics of power, privilege, oppression and culture permeate all aspects of counseling research" [11].

A Comprehensive Approach

We would like to highlight the title " Enhancing research scholarship and publications: Creating a positive and productive research culture through comprehensive collaborations" to underscore the emphasis of this article on the following three themes:

• How to enhance research scholarship and publications?

• What type of research culture must be created?

• How to create a positive and productive research culture?

Keeping in mind these three main themes or questions, this article is written to help the young, enthusiastic and well-trained research scholars in the field of professional counseling. The main focus of this article is on creating "a positive and productive research culture" and using "comprehensive collaborations." The following section focuses on comprehensive collaborations. We would like to involve the administrators, deans, chairpersons, faculty and doctoral and master's degree students. We are recommending a comprehensive approach to producing research and publications. It is like the following African proverb, which people may have heard many times before: 

"It takes the whole village to raise a child."

Similarly, in our efforts to create a positive and productive research culture, we also need many people with different roles and responsibilities. Please check Table 3 at the end of this article for the different roles and responsibilities of various people interested in enhancing research scholarship and publications at their institutions. 

Furthermore, to increase or enhance the research and publication activities at any institution, we are sharing some beneficial and practical strategies to create a much broader, positive and productive research culture as follows: 

All Ph.D. Scholars Must Remain Active in Research

A person who has earned a Ph.D. is expected to enhance and create new knowledge and skills. One must remain active in research in one's specific field and research must become a continuing passion for this person. The amount of research scholarship may vary according to the nature of job requirements and restraints of the time. A president of the institution with many administrative responsibilities may publish just one or two articles within 3 or 5 years, while a regular faculty member may publish at least one or two articles every year. These requirements may vary and be determined according to the expectations of the administration of the institution where someone is employed. We are excited that research findings of these scholars will still be of a great importance based on their practical experiences as the administrators. 

Writing Must Become Habit-Forming

As a scholar in a particular field, write at least one or two pages every day. If a person would write just one page a day, at the end of the year, he or she may have a book of 365 pages ready for publication.

Develop a Personal Research Scholarship Dictionary of some Critical and Famous Words

Regardless of our educational and scholarly backgrounds, we still do not understand the accurate meaning of some English words, especially some professional and research-related words. While reviewing the research literature, if some research related-words, professional jargons, terms, or concepts are new, these words should be written down in a "Personal Research Scholarship Dictionary." This dictionary could become a storehouse of scholarly words and they could help tremendously in preparing journal articles, research papers and textbooks.

A Repository of Research Scholarship Ideas

"I have no problem writing a journal article or even a textbook, but I just do not know what I should write about?" Many young scholars who are enthusiastic about writing ask often ask such questions. We do not think these scholars have a lack of ideas. On the contrary, we think they are overwhelmed with many ideas and they are unable to decide their final choices. These novice researchers or writers often want a "second opinion." We recall at least two faculty members who published their textbooks after discussing their ideas. One faculty member wrote about "Solution-Focused Therapy" and the second young professor edited a textbook about "Addictions and Spirituality."

We believe that most young professors have multiple research ideas, but the lack of time is a real problem for many research scholars. As a suggestion, please list new research ideas whenever they are found during the lit reviews of various publications of great interest.

Meaningful, Purposeful and Impactful Research XXX

The real purpose or aim of new research is to enhance the existing knowledge. Sometimes, new research may affirm or confirm the existing knowledge. At other times, it may add some new information, or it may contradict or negate the existing information. Any new knowledge is like a new baby and it must get special attention like this little newborn baby. How essential or impactful are the new research findings? They are determined by the number of citations in other research scholars' publications. A higher number of citations is directly related to the higher impact or more meaningful research. New research not cited by other scholars is naturally considered of very little value at that time. 

Developing a Coherent and Focused Line of Research Scholarship 

Research scholars generally dream or aspire to become experts in many fields and topics. However, it is challenging to become an expert in everything due to numerous limitations, such as time constraints and several other obligations. Naturally, it is advisable and helpful to choose a few areas of research or projects that are most interesting and stick to them. 

Most successful researchers generally focus on only one theme of their choice or priority and build their research agenda around this particular theme. They resist the temptations to engage in research projects that are not aligned with their research agenda or the particular themes of their choice. These research scholars are able to study the domain or theme of their choice thoroughly from multiple perspectives. They may use different methodologies, different settings, or different populations to enhance the comprehensiveness and comprehension of their research studies. 

Annual Mental Health Counseling Research Symposiums

As the Director of Research, Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu launched the Annual Mental Health Counseling Symposium in 2014. With the great support and encouragement of our most beloved Dean, Dr. Jeffrey Crane, most recently, on June 25, 2022, the 8th Annual Mental Health Counseling Symposium was held. It has proven one of the best ways to mentor our new faculty members and doctoral students to prepare and make research-based professional presentations at "The Annual Symposium about Mental Health Counseling." 

We should continue it as a priority event where faculty and students share their research ideas and they may earn needed continuing education credits (CEU/s) at economical rates. Most importantly, such research symposiums provide much-needed opportunities and encouragement for graduate students and faculty members to collaborate and engage in research projects of their mutual interests. We highly recommend such annual or bi-annual research symposiums that certainly create a very positive and productive research culture or climate. 

Nationally and internationally known research scholars of excellent reputation were invited to deliver the keynote speeches at the beginning of these symposiums. A few examples of these presenters include Past Presidents of the American Counseling Association, Dr. Bradley Erford (2012-2013), Dr. Cirecie West-Olatunji (2013-2014) and Dr. Peggy Maysfield (President & Co-Founder, International Association for Resilience and Trauma Counseling ( Delivered keynote speech on June 25, 2022).

Bi-Annual Research Workshops

As Director of Research, Dr. Sandhu started bi-annual research workshops in 2014. These workshops are held to discuss and mentor the research participants. The very First Research Workshop was held on November 20, 2014. Several nationally known scholars such as Dr. Richard Balkin (Former Editor of Journal of Counseling and Development (JCD) and presently editor of the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling (IJAC) and Dr. Cirecie West-Olatunji, were invited to enhance the research and publications of the faculty. Some examples of research workshop presentations are listed below.

What students and faculty members should know about research and publications: Some practical strategies and guidelines Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu Research in counseling: Advancing our profession, Clinical competence and knowledge Dr. Cirecie West-Olatunji (ACA President).

The Faculty Research and Publications Committee (FRPC)

To enhance research and publication activities at our college, we propose to launch a new committee consisting of members of administration, faculty and graduate students. Very detailed information about this committee is presented in Table 4.

The Beacon is a publication of the School of Professional Counseling. Actually, this biannual journal is an offshoot of the Annual Mental Health Counseling Symposium. The presenters are encouraged to develop their presentation proposals into publishable manuscripts. Under the superb editorship of Dr. Darlene Vaughn, the editorial board selects quality manuscripts to publish in the Beacon on a continuing basis.

Annual Honors, Recognitions and Awards

We may start an Annual Award Day for the SPC Faculty to encourage faculty's research and publication activities. Three awards ($500, $300 and $150 for first, second and third place, respectively). We may coordinate the Annual Mental Health Symposium and Research Awards, Honors and Recognition Day activities on the same weekend.

Faculty and Students Research Teams 

Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) Doctoral Program Faculty members are encouraged to actively engage in research activities through Research Teams with one another or with doctoral students. These Faculty-Students Research Teams could consist of only professors and students with the same or similar research interests or research agendas willing to collaborate. Faculty members are encouraged to share their research interests on the Doctoral Program Website for the information of doctoral students to facilitate research-teams collaborations.

Early Promotion or Pay Raise

With a strong record in research and publications, some elite faculty members should be allowed to go for early promotion, or they are given one-time additional money as an incentive during the year they are highly productive. We must have some incentives to encourage research and publications. Of course, such decisions are the privilege of the administration based on the availability of the funds.

Faculty's Trajectory of Research, Publications, Presentations, Professional Service, Awards and Honors could be posted on the College's Website or in the Library for the interested faculty to give them much-earned prestige, visibility and encouragement. Each interested faculty member's Trajectory of Research, Publications, Presentations and Professional Service will include information only for the last three academic years (August 1, 2023, to July 31, 2026). It must be noted that the Trajectory of Research will include only those publications, presentations and committee services that have already been completed. 

Doctoral Students as Research Scholars

We believe that our doctoral students enrolled in the second year and above can conduct ethically acceptable and methodologically sound research. Through research experiences, we aim to enhance our students' academic excellence, scholarship and creative activities. To help and guide our graduate students to conduct research successfully, our faculty members must also be actively engaged in research. They must demonstrate their competence and excellence through their research publications. Our faculty members and doctoral students are encouraged to join research teams, two doctoral students and one faculty member of their choice, to engage in research activities actively.

Concerted research efforts and new initiatives by the counselor education faculty and doctoral students from the School of Professional Counseling and Doctors Degree Program in Counselor Education and Supervision could help raise our college's research profile to new high standards in higher education. Our counseling programs and college could become the beacon of excellence, academic vigor, prestige and pride. 

Advanced Statistical Research Courses for Masters Degree and Ph.D. Degree Students

One of the greatest highlights of our master's and doctoral degree programs at Lindsey Wilson College is the most significant number of courses offered in statistics and research designs. It is highly recommended that master's degree students also make research teams with their professors to work on their publishable manuscripts. To recognize students' commendable research efforts and to highlight their publications, a special "Honors in Research Program" may be launched for the master's degree students in counseling for the interested and highly qualified students in the School of Professional Counseling.

Special Research Training for the Counseling Faculty 

Over the years, we all tend to forget the materials from statistics, research designs and some other challenging or demanding courses. Sometimes we do not fully understand or master the materials, or at other times, our professors skip the materials. They do not cover some essential concepts indispensable to conducting research or help us teach others. 

It is important for the instructors or professors to think about the instructional materials, especially in demanding courses like statistics which they have not mastered. As professors, we are responsible for teaching the instructional materials we may not be confident to teach them successfully. Rather than feeling unsure, discouraged and not confident in teaching the materials, we must consider taking some "refresher" or "professional development courses." to be able to teach those courses with confidence and success. 

Research and Publication Collaborations with Senior or More Experienced Colleagues

Collaboration with senior or more experienced colleagues is like having job training. We may be able to learn several things from our colleagues that we may not learn from books. A great colleague may serve as a great mentor or a great guide. He or she may also help to understand the research, scholarly and professional culture or climate of the workplace. A helpful and sincere colleague's mentorship could be of the utmost significance and a much-needed professional help that may prove indispensable throughout the career.

Also, always contact the chairperson for professional help. For instance, we may not know the professional requirements of getting tenured or getting promotion from a non-tenured assistant professor to a fully tenured associate professor. In addition, we may also contact the chairperson about professional and legal matters. A great chairperson could also assign an experienced mentor who could provide much-needed guidance from time to time. 

Become Proactive in Research Efforts

As mentioned earlier, we all here mean everyone who has a Ph.D., Ed.D., or any other terminal degree or someone trying to earn any terminal degree, must become proactive in research efforts. It will include administrators, deans, chairs, professors and doctoral degree-seeking students. Such a collective approach to enhancing research and publication will undoubtedly open a flood gate of scholarly activities. Each category of scholars has extraordinary and unique opportunities and obligations to broaden and expand the research in their specific research areas. For brevity's sake, Table 3 presents various responsibilities for all categories of scholars, including administrators, professors, students and research directors.

If we consider our institution of higher learning a community of scholars, then we must ask what would be our identity as scholars and what would be our professional legacy? We strongly believe that our legacy and professional identity are directly related to our publications and research accomplishments. Professors' research accomplishments could enhance their visibility and establish their identity as research scholars at the state, national and international levels.

Become a Regular Writer and a Researcher

Many writers and scholars use a sporadic approach to their research and publication activities. Many scholars plan to make "summer" or some other times available for research. We believe it is the wrong approach. If this faculty member may run into some personal or familial problems during the summer or some other planned time, this faculty member will not be able to complete his or her research and publication plans. For this reason, we strongly recommend that research scholars must follow a regular research agenda and work on the research projects regularly for a period of two to three hours every day.

Learning Styles or Learning Environments

We may recall attending workshops or reading books on "learning styles." The learning style inventory and several publications about learning styles became extremely popular in the 1980s and 1990s [13]. However, lately many scholars like Gardner [14] and Willingham et al. [15] have debunked the myths of the learning styles. 

However, we do strongly believe in the preference for learning environments. For instance, some people learn better when they are studying and the music is on. Other people may like to study when the surroundings are tranquil. Some people study better when there is sunshine or bright light, while others study better when light is dim.

Multicultural and Diversity Issues in Research and Publications

Multiculturalism and Diversity issues have become matters of great concerns throughout the United States these days. Due to the increasing migration from almost all countries and cultures to America, considered as the "mecca" of jobs and life enhancement opportunities, migration from almost all countries and cultures to the United States have exponentionally increased. However, cultural variations, distinctions and differences in lifestyles and cultural values have become a significant concern for the counselors, psychotherapists, teachers, professors and supervisors in all workplaces. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 created the most powerful and influential movement of the "Multiculturalism as the Fourth Force in Counseling and Psychology" [10] which has revolutionized U.S. Society through the persisting and painful issues caused by cultural differences. The people of color and some white minorities (Acadian Americans, Italian Americans and Russian Americans and Irish Americans are becoming "ultra-sensitive" about the issues of prejudice, biases and differential treatment in workplaces, schools and hospitals, The latest U.S. Bureau of Census (2020) data indicates that the nation is diversifying even faster than predicted. The new estimates show that nearly four of 10 Americans identify with a race or ethnic group other than white [16].

There are two significant suggestions or recommendations for researchers, educators, scholars and practitioners in the United States and other multicultural societies. First, more and more issues relating to diversity and multiculturalism are emerging. We must focus on these significant issues in our research, publications, counseling, psychology and psychotherapy. We agree with West-Olatunji and Wolfgang [9]. Despite several years of continuing research focusing on culturally diverse populations, there is still limited knowledge about several important subjects. These subjects include the intersectionality of their identity and the psychological impact of systematic oppression on culturally marginalized groups, parenting and resilience, to name a few. 

In his new book, Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America, Frey [17] has pointed out that in 2045, the USA will become a "white minority" country very first time with a 49.7% population. If Whites become a minority in America in 2045, naturally the challenges of cultural and racial conflicts and problems relating to new political powers and divisions may start a very different set of social and cultural challenges. At this time, nobody has a clue about the nature and extent of the new problems Americans may face during the new majority of racial and ethnic groups.

We also recommend that even though the main topic may not be on the topics or themes relating to multiculturalism and diversity, please do not overlook the issues relating to multiculturalism and diversity. Issues relating to multiculturalism and diversity may still play an inherent, relevant and some secret or hidden role in the problems of your clients. We also believe that all counseling dyads or communications are multicultural in nature. All counseling, therapy, or teaching relationships are multicultural in nature when personality variables are considered. These variables may include age, sex, gender, race, ethnicity and religious affiliation. 

A Need for More Training in Research

All professors teaching at colleges or universities do not possess research capabilities to engage in research projects and publications. For many newly hired professors engaging in research projects and publishing articles, book chapters and textbooks becomes a big challenge. Unfortunately, due to the poor research records of publications, they either keep on changing jobs or quit teaching at the university and go into private practice or teach at the colleges where requirements for research are not very demanding. For various reasons, not all professors are equally prepared to do research for publishing in highly esteemed journals. 

Some faculty members are not fully prepared to conduct statistical analyses and cannot guide their students in writing their dissertation research. Some other faculty members are better than others, but they do not have the complete confidence to help their doctoral students. As many professors might have forgotten how to conduct statistical analyses over the years, it is important for them to join Faculty Research Teams to renew or refresh their knowledge about statistical analyses and develop their mastery of various research designs again. In some cases, these professors will benefit from retaking the research or refresher courses to teach or mentor their students with complete confidence. 

Make Research Projects an Integral Part of Instruction

All counselor educators, administrators and research scholars must follow an instructional principle that research is an integral, indispensable and important part of instruction. All professors, administrators and research scholars must make research assignments as they align with the subject matter of teaching. Thus, instruction and the related research activities must go hand in hand, complementing or supplementing each other. It is hoped that the counseling faculty's passion and expertise in research is increased through intentional, collaborative, proactive and practical strategies when they actively collaborate with other research scholars and administrators to enhance their research activities.

Miscellaneous Suggestions

There are several other suggestions to enhance research and publication activities through collaborations. They are briefly listed here, but details about them are presented under various tables shown at the end of this paper as follows:

Mentorship Activities

It is extremely important that some mentorship opportunities for conducting research are provided to the interested faculty members on a continuing basis. The director of research, department chair, college dean, or interested faculty members may share their new knowledge. For instance, we conduct Faculty Research Team Sessions every other Friday with 8-10 faculty members. These groups of faculty members are called Faculty Research Teams. At the end of this article, additional comments are shared from the faculty members about their research and other mentorship activities under Table 1.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects

As the title suggests, all persons interested in recruiting human subjects to conduct research must get prior approval from the Institutional Review Board. All persons involved in research must pass the required exam and complete the mandatory online research certification for the researchers. As a quick reminder, mandatory requirements for all researchers and detailed information about IRB regulations and procedures are presented in Table 2.

Faculty Research and Publications Committee (FRPC)

To enrich and enhance the research and publication activities at any institution, there is a dire need of a " Faculty Research and Publications Committee," to provide much needed financial support for the purchase of research instruments, attending research related sessions at conferences and to pay for the subconvention fees for publications. A proposed example of the much-needed Faculty Research and Publications Committee (FRPC) at every research institution is provided in Table 4. 

Launching a Special Graduate Course in Research, Publications and Presentations for Doctoral Students 

It is extremely important that all doctoral students take this course to prepare a publishable article and make two professional presentations. As a professor and the director of Research (Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu) started a similar course called CES 9013-Professional Writing, Publication and Presentations at Lindsey Wilson College. All doctoral students enrolled in this class prepared publishable manuscripts for journals and two textbooks published by the faculty from the School of Professional Counseling, titled " Appalachian Americans: Issues and Concerns for Counseling and Psychotherapy." The second book, edited by Prof .and Dean Jeff Crane and Prof. Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu, " Counseling Aging Clients: Some Common Challenges in Gerontology." is currently in press. The description of this course CES 9013 is presented below.

CES 9013-Professional Writing, Publication and Presentations in CES- 3 Credit Hours

This course provides an introduction to and exploration of the practice and skills required for professional writing, engaging in the publication process and the preparation of professional presentations. All students were required to work under the supervision of the professor to generate publication manuscripts and make two presentations at the state or national conferences.

A Comprehensive Approach to Writing and Publishing Manuscripts for the Textbooks and Articles

We recommend that "research in counseling" must be taken as a joint project. In this project, all Ph.D. holders, regardless of their positions, come together to conduct research for publications. To make research an enjoyable and profitable experience for doctoral students, administrators, professors, department chairs and deans of various colleges must come together to play their roles. These roles for every group are listed in Table 3. We hope this joint and team approach to research and publications will surely enhance the reputation of any college or university that chooses to adopt this team approach to research to make students excel in their projects and dissertations. 

Some Important and Unique Contributions of This Article to the Counseling Research Literature 

This article has made some major, unique and notable contributions to the relevant, prevalent and available literature on the issues and strategies for enhancing research and publications of the faculty in professional counseling and psychotherapy. For brevity's sake, these unique contributions of this article are listed as follows,

Collaborations with the Administrator, Dr. Jeff Crane, Dean School of Professional Counseling (SPC)

It is one of the rare articles in which the administration's viewpoints, suggestions and recommendations are seriously considered and included. Dr. Jeff Crane, the Dean of the School of Professional Counseling (SPC), is an experienced professor and administrator of a large professional counseling program and the Doctor's Degree Program of Counselor Education and Supervision at Lindsey Wilson College. Dr. Crane's views, experiences and guidance as my co-author have been of tremendous value and utmost significance. Dr. Jeff Crane's unique perspectives and contributions are greatly appreciated.

Development of a Positive and Productive Research Culture 

A major contribution of this article is the detailed and serious discussion of various ideas and methods for creating and implementing step-by-step procedures to create a positive, productive, purposeful, meaningful and friendly environment conducive to creativity, research and publications. Unfortunately, a review of research-related literature demonstrates a piece of scant information available on the topic of creating a positive and productive research culture imperative to enhance new valuable research scholarship.

Significance of Research Highlighted

In this article, the active involvement of the counseling faculty members in research and publication activities is signified, highlighted and underscored. Without enough research publications, a faculty member in the counseling field may not be tenured or g meet promoted to a higher rank. A counselor education department may not get CACREP accreditation due to the insufficient quantity or poor quality of the faculty member's research and publications over the years. A faculty member may not qualify for the grant money due to a lack of research records or publications. American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics [2] recommended that all faculty members must engage in research scholarship and publication activities. 

Practical Examples for Creating a Positive Research Culture

In this article, we have not only described various strategies to enhance research and publications at any institution of higher learning, but this article is also replete with many concrete and practical examples demonstrating how to give our theoretical ideas some practical and functional shapes and forms. Of course, a change does not come easily. It always requires determination, hard work, commitment, time, cooperation and collaboration among the faculty members, scholars, administrators and staff members.

Knowledge about Multiculturalism and Diversity is Indispensable in Research

The United States is a country of immigrants. As such, you will find people from all races, cultures, ethnic groups and religions reside in America. Any research done without the consideration of multiculturalism and diversity is clearly a violation of sound research rules, regulations, practices and ethics. For these reasons, researchers must consider that the participants in any research project must reflect the multicultural diversity of our culture, race, ethnicity, religions, gender and age. The lack of diversity among the subjects participating in the research study may cause serious flaws.

For instance, the results cannot be generalized without diverse participants in a research study. We strongly believe that every research study, without serious consideration of multiculturalism and diversity of participants, is flawed and should not be conducted. Moreover, we are of the opinion that all counseling dyads are multicultural dyads and all research is multicultural research. 

Enhancing Research and Publication Activities: Creating a Positive and Productive Research Culture through Comprehensive Collaborations

Namely, these keywords create a positive and productive culture and comprehensive collaborations. If we are not able to create, we will have dismal results. We must create or develop a positive research culture where all the involved persons are excited and interested in research and publications. We must have comprehensive collaborations.

These comprehensive collaborations may include students, professors, departmental chairpersons, college dean, provost for academic affairs, president of the university and chair and members of the University Board of Trustees. All these people should be interested and supportive of the research and publications and they must be willing to support and help the various research initiatives, plans and projects if needed. Most importantly, teamwork is critical and all the involved persons are serious to make any project a success.

A counselor educator without a good research and publications record is ultimately on the path of his professional failure. The old saying, "publish or perish" is repeated many times. Most recently, Schmit and Giordano [18] published a special issue of the Journal of Counseling and Development on the main theme of "publish or perish" to alert the counselor education faculty about the significance of research and publications. Dr. Jeff Crane, Dean of the School of Professional Counseling was very gracious to co-author this article with me to encourage and help our counseling education faculty actively engage in research and publications. 

During my experience of 8 years as a Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Counselor Education and Supervision, a doctoral program and the School of Professional Counseling (SPC) a masters degree program, I am greatly convinced about the great research and publications potential and bubbling enthusiasm of our faculty and masters degree and Ph.D. students to publish their research activities. This article is a humble effort to provide guidance to our very highly talented faculty and students for creating a positive and productive research culture where the seeds of their research will grow, flourish and blossom. Moreover, Dr. Jeff Crane and I are both confident that all faculty members and students in counseling programs will also benefit from our sincere effort to promote research and publications throughout the colleges and universities of Kentucky and of the United States.

1. Sandhu, D.S. et al.“South Asian Americans.” Culturally Alert Counseling: A Comprehensive Introduction, G. McAuliffe (Eds.) and Associates, Sage, 2020, pp. 287–314.

2. American Counseling Association. 2014 ACA Code of Ethics: As Approved by the Governing Council. Section G: Research and Publication. American Counseling Association, 2014. https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf.

3. Schmit, M.K. and A.L. Giordano. “Publish or Perish (A Special Issue): Advancing the counseling profession through research and publications.” Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 99, no. 2, 2021, pp. 117–239.

4. West-Oltatunji, C. “Research in counseling.” Counseling Today, vol. 56, no. 5, November 2013. https://ct.counseling.org/2013/11/research-in-counseling/.

5. CACREP. 2016 CACREP Standards. CACREP, 2016. http://www.cacrep.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2016-Standards-with-citations.pdf.

6. Watson, J.C. “Online learning and the development of counseling self-efficacy beliefs.” The Professional Counselor, vol. 2, no. 2, 2014, pp. 143–151.

7. Lambie, G.W. et al.“Counselor education doctoral program faculty’ refereed article publications.” Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 92, no. 3, 2014, pp. 338–346. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00161.

8. Hays, D.G. et al.“Methodological Rigor. Journal of Counseling and Development Qualitative Research Articles: A 15-Year Review.” Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 94, no. 2, 2016, pp. 172–183. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12074.

9. West-Olatunji, C. and J.D. Wolfgang. “Advancing Multicultural and social justice competence in counseling research.” Counseling Today, August 2017, pp. 50–55. https://www.counseling.org/Publications/CT_Flip-Book/0817/mobile/index.html#p=50.

10. Pedersen, P.B. “Introduction to the special issue on multiculturalism as a ‘fourth force’ in counseling.” Journal of Counseling & Development, vol. 70, no. 1, 1991, pp. 4–4. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1991.tb01553.x.

11. O’Hara, O. et al. “Multicultural competence in counseling research: The cornerstone of scholarship.” Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 99, no. 2, 2021, pp. 200–209. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12367.

12. Sandhu, D.S. and J. Crane. “All Counselor-clients dyads are multicultural dyads.” 2022.

13. Dunn, R. et al. Learning Style Inventory. Price Systems, 1984.

14. Gardner, H. “Multiple Intelligences Are Not Learning Styles.” 16 October 2013.

15. Willingham, D.T. et al. “The scientific status of learning styles theories.” Teaching of Psychology, vol. 42, no. 3, 2015, pp. 266–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315589505.

16. Frey, W.H. “The nation is diversifying even faster than predicted according to new census data.” Demographics and Population, 1 July 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-census-data-shows-the-nation-is-diversifying-even-faster-than-predicted/.

17. Frey, W.H. Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America. Brookings Institution Press, 2018.

18. Schmit, M.K. and A.L. Giordano. “Special Issue: Advancing the counseling profession through research and publications: Introduction to the special issue.” Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 99, no. 2, 2021, pp. 119–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12359.

Table 1

Research Mentorship Activities

We believe that both individual and group mentorship are indispensable, imperative, and extremely essential to raise the bar of research and scholarship activities at any institution that is seriously interested in enhancing research and publication activities.The following comments are shared from some faculty members and doctoral students about Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu's mentorship activities at Lindsey Wilson College: 

Dr. Daya Sandhu has been and continues to be instrumental in my development as a faculty member and director of academic programming and clinical counseling. He has especially been influential in my processing reflections on my experiences as an instructor.

Dr. Sandhu noticed that we have great and talented faculty at Lindsey Wislon College but time to attend conferences was a challenge for us, so he developed the Annual Mental Health Symposium at Lindsey Wilson College and every year he reaches out verbally and through written reminders for faculty to consider presenting with students, colleagues, and others outside of Lindsey Wilson College. 

Dr. Sandhu often stresses the importance of research. He not only teaches (or re-educates) faculty how to both engage in and enjoy the process, but he also exemplifies this, as evident by his numerous publications. Dr. Sandhu invited some of us to contribute chapters for a book he was composing on counseling aging adults.

On a personal note, Dr. Sandhu has mentored me throughout my journey as a doctoral student. I was in a severe automobile accident in 2018 and incurred traumatic brain injury which impaired my ability to learn new information and almost had to withdraw from doctoral school. Dr. Sandhu took the time to mentor me and work with me providing ongoing guidance and support for me to preserve and continue to move forward in my doctoral journey. 

Dr. Sandhu has also mentored me and provided guidance for me to be awarded a grant in 2021 by the American Counseling Association. Dr. Sandhu often stresses the importance of research. He not only teaches (or re-educates) faculty how to both engage in and enjoy the process, but he also exemplifies this, as evident by his numerous publications. 

In more recent years, Dr. Sandhu's mentoring influence has involved his tireless efforts to enhance research initiatives at our institution. As our Director of Research, Dr. Sandhu devotes countless hours to supporting research studies and he has established faculty research teams since 2015 wherein he shares expertise in navigating the world of publishing. This resulted in various invitations for me to contribute to scholarly writing projects and due to Dr. Sandhu's unwavering support and encouragement, I recently completed a manuscript for a book chapter that will soon be published. 

Dr. Sandhu is a consummate mentor and an altruistic individual who exemplifies passion and dedication to our profession. Dr. Sandhu has consistently focused on moving our profession forward and he possesses a special gift of always valuing others whether you spend a moment with him or an entire day, you leave the experience feeling both valued and valuable i.e., qualities which are paramount for a mentor and appreciated by his many mentees. 

I believe that Dr. Sandhu has a longstanding history of mentoring me and countless other individuals in the field of counseling. He has truly been a shining star to me and has left an indelible mark on my career as a counselor educator, and I am confident that there are few individuals in the counseling profession who can match his devotion to mentoring others.

Table 2

Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects 

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities conducted under the auspices of the institution with which it is affiliated. All students must receive prior written permission from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before engaging in research for the protection of Human Subjects.

Our college or university is committed to following high ethical standards in fulfilling its mission of teaching, research, and public service. This commitment is safeguarded by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB reviews the ethical suitability of all projects (research, simulation, or training) involving human subjects as participants. The following guidelines and ethical principles apply to the IRB in its review of the projects:

• All activities involving humans in research, training, and simulation must provide for the safety, health, and welfare of every individual. Rights, including the right to privacy, must not be unduly infringed

• The direct or potential benefits to the subject and/or the importance of the knowledge gained must outweigh the inherent risks to the individual.

• Participation in projects must be voluntary. Informed consent must be obtained from all subjects, unless this requirement is waived by the IRB.

• An individual has the right to withdraw from a project at any time or may refuse to participate without loss of benefits to which he/she would be otherwise entitled. In case of a class requirement, this restriction may be waived.

• Maintaining confidentiality of information gained about an individual during a project is a primary responsibility of the investigator.

Research proposals may be divided into two categories for purposes of the protection under this policy: Exempt and Non-Exempt. The determination of whether a study involving human subjects is exempt or non-exempt is made by the IRB.

Exempt

1. Research involving the collection or study of existing data, documents, or records if these sources are publicly available or if the information is recorded by the investigator in such a manner that subjects cannot be identified directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects.

2. Research and demonstration projects that are designed to study, evaluate, or otherwise examine:

* Public benefit or service programs

* Procedures for obtaining benefits or services to those under these programs

* Possible changes in methods or levels of payments for benefits or services 

3. Research conducted in established educational settings, involving normal educational practices.

* Research in regular and special educational instruction strategies, or

* Research on the effectiveness of the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula or classroom management methods.

4. Research that involves the use of educational tests (cognitive, aptitude, achievement), surveys, interview procedures, or observations of public behavior UNLESS,

* The information is recorded in such a way that human subjects can be identified directly or through identifiers linked to subjects.

* Any disclosure of the human subject's responses outside the research could reasonably place the subject at risk of criminal or civil liability or be damaging to the subject's financial standing, employability, or reputation.

Non-Exempt

1. Research, including surveys that involve minors, the elderly, prisoners, clinical populations, inclusive of any clients in any therapeutic setting/relationship with a potential researcher, or any other vulnerable populations, should undergo IRB review.

2. If data can be linked to a participant's identity, and thus there is a lack of anonymity or confidentiality, or if there is explicit or implicit coercion, inclusive of a therapeutic relationship, IRB review is required.

3. A completed proposal, including an informed consent form and debriefing statement must be provided. Detailed information may be found in The Faculty Handbook or by contacting the Academic Affairs office.

4. Information on membership and guidelines for submitting proposals are available from the Academic Affairs office, in the online Faculty Forms folders, and The Faculty Handbook.

Table 3

Center for Excellence in Research A Strategic and Comprehensive Research Plan: A Practical Model 

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known ____Carl Sagan

Research must continue to be the centerpiece of intellectual life, and our commitment to research must grow, because our problems are growing__Earnest L. Boyer

Mission Statement

The mission of the Center for Excellence in Research is to serve as the intellectual hub for all the faculty members, students, and administrators at Lindsey Wilson College. It also aims to train interested faculty members and students how to conduct research and disseminate results achieved through rigorous evidence to improve teaching and learning. 

Vision Statement

The Center for Excellence in Research will serve as a model of proactive approach to help faculty members develop a coherent and focused line of scholarship in their area of expertise. 

Goals

The main goal of the Center for Excellence in Research is to enhance passion and expertise in research in faculty and students through intentional, collaborative, and proactive strategies. 

 Some Ambitious Goals, Objectives, and Strategies (Some Tentative Plans) 

Table 4 

Proposed Faculty Research and Publications Committee (FRPC)

Research matters at Our College 

Dr. Daya Singh Sandhu and Dr. Jeffrey Crane

To enrich and enhance the research and publication activities at any institution is extremely important and much needed for the CACREP Accreditation, Regional Accrediting Organizations' Accreditation, and each college's own tenure and promotion policies, etc. Research and publications are also extremely important for the funding of grants, awards, and for bringing personal and universities' recognitions for excellence.

A. Mission

Develop various strategies to enhance faculty and research and publication activities at Lindsey Wilson College through intentional, collaborative, and proactive activities. Strive to raise the research and publications profile of Lindsey Wilson College among all the benchmark colleges in the state of Kentucky.

B. Vision Statement

In collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Research, the Faculty Research and Publications Committee (FRPC) will take a leading role to help Lindsey Wilson College faculty members develop a coherent and focused line of research and scholarship in their areas of interest and expertise.

C. Faculty Research and Publications Committee Objectives

1. The major purpose of this committee is to develop and promote research and publication activities at Lindsey Wilson College.

2. Identify sources of research funds and facilitate the grant writing efforts of the faculty members. Invite grant writing experts to conduct workshops.

3. Support various efforts of the Center for Excellence in Research (CER) at Lindsey Wilson College to create a learning environment which is conducive to research initiatives, explorations and collaborations. Invite nationally and internationally known schdolars who could provide expert guidance and impetus to our research efforts at Lindsey Wilson College.

4. One of the most important purposes of this committee is to support CER’s efforts to build capacity to conduct research at Lindsey Wilson College. Raising or securing necessary funds for this purpose would be one of the primary goals of this committee to provide logistical support for the researchers.

5. The FREC will make necessary plans to disseminate results of the completed research studies through Annual Mental Health Counseling Symposium and biannual research workshops. Research results will also be published in Lindsey Wilson College’s publications and in the peer reviewed journals of various learned societies. In some cases, these top tier scholarly journals might require research subvention fees.

6. This committee would provide some much needed financial resources and make provisions for networking opportunities to conduct action, empirical, theoretical and most importantly translational research in Mental Health Counseling. 

7. Create a community of elite scholars called Lindsey Wilson star scholars. These star scholars will hold monthly research collaborative meetings on a continuing basis throughout the academic year. These elite scholars will provide much needed mentorship for other faculty members and students who are interested in various state, national, and international research awards and scholarships, such as Fulbright Research Scholars, Rhodes Scholars, and Marshall Scholarship etc.

8. Hold Annual Research and Publications Honor Day Every year an Annual Research and Publications Day will be held to recognize and celebrate the research accomplishments of faculty and students at Lindsey Wilson College. Select graduate honor students and recognize them at the graduation day. (Not to exceed 3 percent from each graduate class).

9. Help interested graduate faculty members to prepare a clear, concise and well- defined research agenda based on their researc interests and expertise. Recognize and reward research efforts of the faculty members through various incentives.

10. Make provisions for the services of a statistician who could help faculty members to complete their research projects requiring quantitative, qualitative, or mix-method methodologies and statistical analyses.