Respect for diversity and inclusion of all people is a central value of the ISU Counseling Psychology program. The faculty strive to create a climate of inclusion within our program area. We respect and affirm the different identities that students and faculty bring to our program community, including differences in ethnic and racial heritage, sex/gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and physical ability.
We strive to implement our values in two distinct ways. First, through ongoing faculty and student feedback, we work to actively identify and address systemic issues in our program that can negatively impact members in our program with marginalized identities. We also seek to positively promote understanding and growth-oriented communication among individuals who possess various cultural perspectives in our program. Second, we seek to train our students to be able to work effectively with people of all different identities and to grow in their comfort counseling people who are different from them. Through self-reflection, coursework, and honest dialogue with others, we strive to develop graduates who understand and embrace their own cultural identities, as well as graduates who have the expertise, empathy, compassion, and respect to effectively relate with others about their identities and the broader systems of oppression in society that impact those identities.