Dear NCACES Members,

It is an honor to serve as the President of NCACES this year, and I am thrilled to continue our tradition of supporting counselor educators and supervisors across our region. As you know, NCACES is more than an organization. We are a community of passionate professionals committed to advancing the field of counselor education, fostering the next generation of leaders, and advocating for the profession we all love. This year, our focus is on strengthening our organization of documents, enhancing our historical records, expanding professional development opportunities, and elevating our voice through advocacy.

The passion and work can be seen through our board and our committees. We are working collaboratively to create meaningful experiences for members at every stage of their careers, from emerging leaders to seasoned professionals. Whether through workshops, webinars, or conference programming, our goal is to provide spaces where members can learn, collaborate, and grow. 

With the support of our Co-Chairs, Drs. Hulya Ermis and Kailey Bradley, I am excited to announce that we have eight wonderful Emerging Leaders (ELs) joining us this year. They are hard at work creating meaningful workshops and opportunities for our ELs. I cannot stress enough how valuable this program is to our organization. Last year, two of our ELs helped spearhead the development of our Newsletter Special Committee with the support of Dr. Amber Randolph (NCACES President 2024-2025). For more information on this truly impressive group, please see the Emerging Leaders tab on the website. If you would like to serve as an Emerging Leader or mentor for the 2026-2027 academic year, please keep an eye out for the next application cycle!

Our Webinar Committee, led by Drs. Laura Caputo and Jess Danielson, have been working diligently to continue our mission of providing free professional development opportunities through our webinar series. I continue to be impressed with how they continue to evaluate our webinars each year. I enormously appreciate their efforts and encourage each of you to attend a webinar; this information can be found under our events tab.

I am looking forward to seeing our members at this year’s ACES Conference in Philadelphia. I’d like to highlight that our co-conference coordinators, Drs. Beth Gilfillan and So Rin Kim are working diligently to prepare for our 2026 NCACES Conference. Please stay tuned for more details! 

As I have mentioned throughout this message, our region is focused on collaboration and our board is actively working together to serve our members. I’d like to take a moment to introduce our current NCACES Leadership: Dr. Amber Randolph (Past-President), Dr. Dana Isawi (President-Elect), Dr. Beth Gilfillan (Treasurer), Dr. Yenitza Guzman (Secretary), Dr. Zori Paul  (Member-at-Large), Mr. Andrew Eisenman (Graduate Student Representative), Dr. Melissa Fickling (Parliamentarian), Dr. Patrice Bounds (Member-at-Large Elect), and Ms. Nocona Candy-Flatt (Graduate Student Representative-Elect). I couldn’t ask for a better team of colleagues to serve with this year and I am so grateful for each of you.

Finally, I want to extend an invitation to each of you: stay engaged, share your ideas, and consider stepping into leadership roles within NCACES. Together, we can continue to foster innovation, support one another, and shape the future of counselor education. Thank you for the work you do every day, and for being an essential part of the NCACES community.

With appreciation,

Jenna M. Alvarez, Ph.D., LPC (Ohio), LPSC (Ohio)

NCACES President 2025-2026