Counseling professor is associate editor of new journal
Journal debuted first issue in early 2019
When he is not teaching or running a research lab, Department of Counseling Assistant Professor W. Bradley McKibben, Ph.D., is also serving as the associate editor of a new journal.
In 2018, McKibben accepted a three-year appointment as associate editor of Teaching and Supervision in Counseling, the official journal of the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, or SACES. The organization, whose mission is to support counselor educators and supervisors, includes 14 southern states, covering bordered to the north by Maryland, to the south by Florida, and to the west by Texas.
“It gives more of an outlet to research and researchers who are studying training of counselors,” McKibben said of the journal’s creation. “This offers another outlet for that.”
McKibben’s involvement arose from a conversation with his former mentor Kelly Wester, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. McKibben expressed an interest in journal editing work, and several weeks later, Wester called him about the new journal, which she is the editor of. After McKibben was aboard, there was the task of setting up the journal and requesting articles for the first issue.
The journal received 60 submissions for its debut issue in February 2019, but only six made it into print. McKibben credits several ad hoc reviewers for helping read through the submissions and help get the journal launched. Some of the articles cover topics like “Exploring Latina Clinical Mental Health Counseling Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Practices” and
“Am I My Peers’ Keeper? Problems of Professional Competency in Doctoral Students.”
McKibben said the journal’s goal is to provide as much useful feedback as possible to that articles with potential can be shaped into something suitable for publication. He said working as an editor has also given him a new perspective in writing his own research articles.
“I appreciate more what goes into the revision process,” he said.
The journal will publish twice a year, with the second issue expected in October. McKibben said it might have more articles than the first issue, but fewer than 10.
McKibben is balancing his journal work and teaching with running a new research lab. Two master’s students are volunteering their time to assist with a mixed methods study on attachment in clinical supervision.
“I’m interested in the trust and bond that develops between counselor and supervisor,” McKibben said.
McKibben also recently received a research award from the American Counseling Association at its 2019 conference in New Orleans. A mentor nominated him for the award based on an article on attachment and supervision.
“I don’t do pomp and circumstance, but it was humbling,” he said. “It’s nice to get the recognition that maybe your research is making a difference in some way.”