Student Newsletter

Fall Schedule

The University has announced that the dates of the fall semester have changed.  The fall semester will begin on August 24, 2020 and conclude on November 24, 2020. Fall Break has been eliminated, and additional online instruction dates will be held on Saturdays between August 24 and November 24.  Please visit this page for the full statement from the chancellor regarding the revised academic calendar.

For the fall semester, all graduate programs at NCCU are requested to offer online coursework only.  Some undergraduate courses will be offered on campus. In general, it is anticipated that fewer people on campus will offer a better ability to practice social distancing and offer a safer environment for everyone.  The university has published "Guidelines for Returning to NCCU".

What this means for the Counseling Program is that you may see some of our on campus courses be converted to online courses.  If there are courses where there are currently both on campus and online offerings, we may combine sections so that everyone is registered for the online section. 

Our hope (right now) is that our Fall schedule will have as little change as possible (beyond the changes specified above).   However, with that said, please be aware that circumstances are fluid and could yet change again.  The University makes all decisions about what courses are offered - and how they are offered.  Sometimes, they make decisions at the last minute.  We will do our best to advocate for our students and provide you with as much advance notice of changes as possible.  Unfortunately, we can not guarantee at this time that all schedules will remain unchanged. 

These changes, particularly last minute ones, are stressful.  The last several months have been particularly difficult.  Sometimes these circumstances require us to revisit plans that we have made previously.  We hope that you will continue to exercise and demonstrate positive counselor characteristics: Good self-care, flexibility, open-mindedness, and decision-making based on information you have at the moment.

Field Service Announcement - Fall 2020

Don't forget that your hours in the fall must be obtained during the semester dates.  You can not begin your fall placement before August 24, 2020 - and you must conclude your hours by November 24, 2020.

Students should follow all directives issued by their placement sites, local municipalities, counties, or states regarding face coverings, social distancing, staying at home, sheltering, or quarantining. Although students may not be physically present at their placement site, they may continue to accrue direct and indirect hours.

The following statements were approved by the Counselor Education faculty:

• If telehealth methods are used at a placement site, the NCCU Counselor Education Program will allow students to participate in telehealth activities, with appropriate continuing education (training) related to telehealth practices. The education/training should be a minimum of 6 clock hours, and the student should be able to provide documentation, certificate, or attestation of the training. The training should be from an acceptable mental health organization. In addition, the student must be aware of the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics related to distance counseling/telehealth. 
  • Acceptable telehealth methods were defined by the faculty as synchronous (i.e., live) interactions using either video and/or audio technology. Audio-only technology includes telephone use.
  • All documentation regarding the training should be sent to the university supervisor.
  • Suggestions for specific trainings or providers for training will be posted on the NCCU Counseling website.

Per CACREP’s guidelines, the NCCU Counselor Education Program will allow students to “rollover” hours completed in a previous clinical placement (Practicum or Internship). The hours that could be rolled-over would consist of hours completed that would have exceeded the hours required for the previous clinical experience. For example, the Practicum requires 100 hours in the field. If a student previously documented 150 hours in Practicum, for example, the student would be able to roll-over 50 hours (the excess left after 100 hours completed).

• Hours rolled-over in an internship situation (a previous 300-hour internship into a second 300-hour internship) would need to have occurred in the track for which they are currently placed. For example, a student who completed 350 hours in a school placement could roll-over 50 hours into a second school placement. However, if the previous placement was in a mental health placement, the 50 hours would not roll-over into a school placement.
• Students carrying Incompletes from spring placements will carry over hours already submitted and will continue fall placement if possible.
• Fall Internships are advised to be for 300 as opposed to 600 total hours to provide flexibility for alternate ways of accumulating direct service hours with clients.  

Please be assured that your safety and your education have been our primary focus. It is not easy making decisions like this, but we have made our best efforts to develop plans that (as much as possible) are safe, fair, and maintain the standards set for training.

Face Coverings

Face coverings are required at NCCU, should you come to campus. The UNC System is requiring all individuals to wear face masks or other face coverings while on campus. 

Fall Textbooks

Don't forget that our textbook list is posted on the Program's website here:
http://www.nccucounseling.com/student2/index.php/course-info/textbook-list-sheet

Please have your materials available and ready before classes begin.

Upcoming Dates to Remember for nccuCounseling: 

• July 29: Last day of class lecture for summer 2 and dual session.
• July 30-31: Final exams for summer 2 and dual session.
• August 3: Final grades for summer 2 and dual session due in BANNER by 5pm.
• August 24: First day of classes for the fall semester.

Did you know that you can subscribe to the nccuCounseling calendar?  If you use a digital calendar, you can subscribe and have all of the information from the "Key Dates" letter auto-populate in your calendar.  Visit our website for more information.