Honors and Awards

CEBS Graduate Wins Distinguished Award

Dr. Grady Dale Jr. was born on May 15, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of the eight children of Grady Dale Sr., a Pentecostal minister, and Mary Brown Dale, a homemaker, “Gary Jr.,” as he was called, grew up in Jersey city, New Jersey. He excelled in the public schools, was an honor student with a perfect attendance record in high school, and lettered as an athlete as well.

Dr. Dale is the first person in his family to graduate from college, he earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Peter’s College and a master of arts degree from Montclair State University. Dale earned the doctor of education degree in psychology, counseling, and guidance from the University of Northern Colorado in 1975. He began his postdoctoral professional career as the director of a substance abuse program in Colorado, and after serving in several other professional capacities, he relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1981. He joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine professional staff as a student affairs specialist and eventually became an adjunct therapist at the Center for the Study of Human Psychophysiology. He was also an instructor for the seminar on cultural differences within the Department of Psychiatry. In 1984 he was appointed assistant dean for student affairs and assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy, and he remained there in several posts until leaving in 1994 to devote more time to his private practice.

Many of Dale’s conferences and community forums have placed the spotlight on community issues and provide opportunities for finding relevant solutions to problems. The benefits of his efforts are reaped by those who otherwise may not utilize traditional health, mental health, and social services. He earned the award of Distinguished Professional Contributions to Independent or Institutional Practice in the Private Sector.

Cumbres Program Earns National Recognition

Cumbres, the University of Northern Colorado’s innovative teacher preparation program for students committed to working with Hispanic school children, has been recognized by Excelencia in Education, a leading proponent in the United States for accelerating Hispanic student success in higher education. The UNC program has been named a finalist in the organization’s Examples of Excelencia initiative, which honors programs at the forefront of increasing academic opportunities and improving achievement for Latino students at the associate, baccalaureate and graduate levels. Finalists will be recognized Sept. 30 at the annual Celebración de Excelencia in Washington, D.C., and a winner in each of the three levels will be announced. All finalists will be included in the 2009 edition of the What Works for Latino Students in Higher Education: Examples of Excelencia Compendium. The publication describes how the 2009 nominated programs achieve positive results and will suggest ways their strategies may be adapted for use in other communities. The Cumbres program at UNC was established in 1996 when a group of Hispanic alumni expressed concern about the shortage of Hispanic teachers and the dropout rates among Hispanic students. Cumbres, "peaks" in Spanish, currently includes more than 140 students seeking licensure endorsements in bilingual instruction or English as a Second Language.

Dr. Grady Dale Jr.

Heather Helm

Heather Helm, associate professor of Counselor Education and Supervision and coordinator of UNC’s Professional Counseling programs in the School of Applied Psychology and Counselor Education, has been named recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s (APT) National Service Award. Helm will be honored at a ceremony on October 10, 2009, during the APT’s annual conference in Atlanta. The association’s mission is to promote the value of play, play therapy and credentialed play therapists. Helm is a 2004 graduate of the University of Mississippi’s doctoral program in Counselor Education and Supervision. Her research interests include play therapy, counselor education and supervision, child and adolescent counseling, and grief and loss. Helm has been recognized on campus for her teaching. She is also co-editor (with Dr. Linda Black, also an APCE faculty member) of the premier research journal in her field: The Journal of Counselor Education and Supervision.