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grant winner


Everett Painter, PhD student in Counselor Education, has been chosen as one of ten Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) Leadership Fellows and one of only two CSI Interns.

Everett Painter“I very much value the role CSI plays in our profession. So I consider this a privilege and am grateful for the opportunity. It also means a great deal to know the faculty were supportive of the nomination.”

Chi Sigma Iota is an international honor society that focuses on promoting academic and professional excellence in counseling. CSI was established in 1985 and was created for counselors-in-training, counselor educators, and professional counselors.

The CSI Leadership Fellows Program is a yearly award designed to cultivate and support graduate counseling students by developing their skills, network, and competencies as future counseling professionals in a changing, multicultural society. Painter explained, “It requires previous leadership experiences at the chapter level, support of two faculty members and the chapter advisor, a financial commitment on the part of the chapter, and application process including the writing of an essay.” He is currently the president of Upsilon Theta, the CSI chapter at UT Knoxville.

Painter will be attending the American Counseling Association (ACA) Annual Conference and Expo in Montreal, Canada next month. As CSI Leadership Fellow and Intern, he will provide a minimum of fifty service hours on a CSI task force/committee and one hundred hours on special projects, attend the CSI Leadership Training, attend CSI activities, receive a $600 grant from CSI, receive a hundred dollar grant from their nominating CSI chapter (Upsilon Theta), and be recognized at the CSI Awards Ceremony with a plaque at the ACA Annual Conference and Expo. After a successful CSI Internship year, Painter will also receive a certificate of recognition at the 2017 CSI Awards Ceremony and an additional $600.


NASP Grant_Talyor, KalaKala Taylor, School Psychology PhD student, was awarded a Graduate Student Research Grant by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

“I feel honored and excited to receive support to conduct research conducive to my goal of improving reading outcomes for children.”

Taylor was one of only three national winners who will be recognized at the NASP Annual Convention in February 2016 in New Orleans, LA. She will be awarded with $1000 to assist with conducting and disseminating her research. Taylor’s research will investigate the effect of diverse names in children’s literature on student reading. She said, “I think my application stood out because my research addresses a novel question related to multicultural education and reading, an important area in which there has been little empirical investigation.”

The Research Committee of the National Association of School Psychologists states that grants are awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional ability to conduct high-quality research that furthers the mission and goals of NASP, and has the potential to impact the field positively.

For additional information please see Taylor’s curriculum vita.