Awards and Recognitions

February 2024

Jordan Futran won “Counselor of the Year” at the Georgia College Counseling Association annual conference. This award recognizes a counselor for their clinical excellence and/or meritorious service in college counseling.

February 2023

Tatiana Cabral Smith, a counselor on the Armstrong campus, was mentioned in the Inkwell regarding the weekly workshop Cafecito con Counseling. The link to the article can be found here.

February 2022

Dr. Shay Little won the “Advocacy for College Counseling Award” at the Georgia College Counseling Association conference. Dr. Little is currently the Vice President for Student Affairs at Georgia Southern University. The award is for those who demonstrate advocacy of college counseling services or for an organization which has made a significant contribution to the improvement of college counseling services. The award is meant to honor who have made a significant impact on the national, state, or local level.

Dr. Keith Gunnerson was elected onto the Georgia College Counseling Association council and won the award for “Outstanding Professional Contribution to Knowledge.” The Outstanding Professional Contribution to Knowledge Award is given for a demonstrated contribution to the advancement of college counseling theory and/or practice by means of a dissertation, thesis, publication, or scholarly presentation.

Dr. Katie Jones began her term as President of GCCA. Dr. Jones is currently the Associate Director of the Counseling Center on the Armstrong Campus. Dr. Mark Taracuk, who was Continuing Education Coordinator of the conference, was elected President-Elect of GCCA. Dr. Taracuk is currently the Assistant Director/Training Director of the Counseling Center.

November 2021

The “Speak Fire” instagram program won the Award for Excellence in Media by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. Created by Jamal Hailey and Raven De La Cruz, the “Speak Fire” program was designed to create a safe place for students to ask questions and find support on the intersecting identities of gender, sexual orientation and race. More information can be found here. Congrats to Jamal and Raven!

October 2021

The Counseling Center in partnership with Active Minds hosted the Send Silence Packing exhibit on Georgia Southern’s Statesboro and Armstrong campuses. The exhibit features personal stories from individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide and is designed to connect individuals to mental health resources and inspire action for suicide prevention. Georgia Southern’s exhibit was featured on WTOC and WJCL.

Counseling Center director Dr. Jodi Caldwell was interviewed and quoted by the Washington Post for a story on college student mental health and availability of resources. The article can be found here.

September 2021

Angela Landers, a licensed professional counselor as well as assistant director at the Counseling Center, was recently mentioned in the university’s student magazine, the Reflector. She was interviewed on the importance of daily mantras and how they can positively impact your daily life. The article can be found here.

August 2021

Dr. Mark Taracuk won the Commitment to Advocacy Award from the university’s Sexual Assault Response Team. The award was for his work on the Creating Champions program. The program is aimed at addressing harmful gender norms by using intentional evaluation to create and implement mindful masculinity in everyday life.

Dr. Lauren Patterson, associate director of the Counseling Center and chair of the university’s Sexual Assault Response Team, was named “40 Under 40” by Georgia Southern University. This honor is awarded to university alumni of the university for their outstanding achievements and professional expertise that uphold the core values of Georgia Southern University. For more information, please visit the 40 Under 40 page. Congrats Dr. Patterson!

February 2021

Dr. Lauren Patterson, assistant director and chair of the Sexual Assault Response Team, was featured in a WTOC-TV segment about the 2021 Sexual Assault Awareness Week and the Clothesline Project. The segment can be viewed here. Information about Georgia Southern’s Sexual Assault Response Team and programming events can be found here.

Arty Allen won the Counselor of the Year award by the American College Counseling Association. Arty is a counselor at the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center. Congratulations on your achievement!

January 2021

Congrats to our assistant director Dr. Katie Jones who was elected to the position of president-elect for the Georgia College Counseling Association. This organization seeks to advance the field of mental health clinicians who work primarily with college and university students. Dr. Jones will immediately start as president-elect and will begin her term as president of GCCA in January 2022.

Congrats to two members of our team for their awards at the Georgia College Counseling Association’s 2021 Conference! Ms. Nikita Robinson won the Sylvia Shortt Counselor of the Year Award for her work on suicide prevention, advocacy and clinical work, and service to the university. Dr. Mark Taracuk won Outstanding Professional Contribution to Knowledge Award for his work on addressing harmful attitudes toward transgender and gender diverse individuals, which was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Transgender Health. Dr. Taracuk also won for Clinical Program of the Year Award for the Creating Champions program; this award recognizes the development and implementation of a unique clinical program for college students.

September 2020

Dr. Mark Taracuk, a staff psychologist at the Counseling Center, was selected to be on the advisory committee for the annual Solving the Campus Sexual Assault & Dating Violence Puzzle national conference hosted by the Chrysalis Network. The annual conference is focused on bringing attention to the crisis of sexual assault and dating violence on college campuses as well as highlight the transformative prevention and response work being done. More information on the Chrysalis Network and the annual conference can be found here.

April 2020

Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Patterson! She won the Kathryn Grube Unsung Hero Award at the Eagle Excellence Awards. Dr. Patterson is the Assistant Director for Outreach and Community Engagement for the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center on the Statesboro campus. She is a licensed psychologist and serves as the chair of the university’s Sexual Assault Response Team.

Congrats to the members of the Sexual Assault Response Team and the Sexual Assault Student Educators! They won Program of the Year at the Eagle Excellence Awards for their work on the Clothesline Project. This program helps bring awareness to the issues of violence and sexual assault, as well as honor and support victims and survivors. Congratulations on all of your hard work!

March 2020

Congrats to Becca Smith, assistant director of the Counseling Center at Georgia Southern University – Armstrong, who was awarded the Professional Leadership Award during the annual American College Counseling Association conference in Washington, D.C. The award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated leadership and contribution to the field of college counseling.

February 2020

Congratulations to Ms. Angela Landers who was awarded the Clinical Program of the Year by the Georgia College Counseling Association for her Mindful Yoga workshop. Ms. Landers facilitates this open workshop in which students learn yoga postures to cope with anxiety, depression and trauma while exploring the mind-body connection.

Congratulations to practicum therapist Carolyn Miller! She was awarded the Graduate Student Meritorious Service Award by the Georgia College Counseling Association for her work with the university’s Sexual Assault Response Team. Ms. Miller is working toward a Master of Education degree in clinical mental health counseling and received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in child and family development at Georgia Southern in 2018.

Congrats to Mark Taracuk who receive the 2020 President’s Grant Award by the Georgia College Counseling Association. Mr. Taracuk is a doctoral intern in health service psychology at the Georgia Southern Counseling Center. He is completing his Ph.D from Oklahoma State University in counseling psychology.

April 2019

Congratulations to the Counseling Center for being awarded by Georgia Southern Housing with the Good Neighbor Award, which recognizes any student affairs or services department that has significantly contributed to housing department by being an awesome collaborator to help provide programming for the residential population. This department is a true partner with the housing department and are integral in the overall success of our residents.

Congratulations to the Counseling Center for being honored at the Office of Multicultural Affairs 2019 Excellence in Diversity Award Best Diversity Program of the Year for Coping with Racial Battle Fatigue! 

February 2019

Congratulations to Dr. Johanna Workman for being awarded the Outstanding Service Award at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs! Dr. Workman is the Associate Director/Clinical Services Director of the counseling center at Georgia Southern University – Statesboro.

January 2019

Congratulations to our Executive Director Dr. Jodi K. Caldwell and Armstrong Location Director Jeanne McGowan for being honored at the American College Counseling Association Annual Conference! Dr. Caldwell was awarded the College Counseling Advocacy Award and Ms. McGowan was awarded Director of the Year!

Congratulations to our Executive Director Dr. Jodi K. Caldwell and our Pre-doctoral Internship Program led by Dr. Katie Jones for being honored at the Georgia College Counseling Association Annual Conference!

Georgia Southern Counseling Center, Director Honored by Georgia College Counseling Association

Last updated: 3/28/2024