Johns Hopkins University’s Lambda Chapter of the Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic & Professional Honor Society International (CSI) inducted 51 counseling students and elected its new president on April 19 in a virtual ceremony attended by more than 100 students, faculty members, family members and friends.
Younga Kim, the current secretary, was named the 2022-2023 CSI President. Special awards also were presented to members for exceptional achievement and service, including in recognition of a promising inductee, outstanding graduate students, and emerging practitioners. Nyki Caldwell received the Vivian Lee Advocacy Award, presented in honor of late professor Vivian V. Lee, EdD, a respected expert in counseling and guiding force in international social justice. A full list of awardees appears below.
Dean Christopher Morphew commended the students for taking up the profession during a time when their skills, expertise, and commitment are needed more than ever in both clinical and school settings. Last year, about 37% of the U.S. population, or 122 million Americans, were living in areas experiencing mental health professional shortages, according to a USAFacts report, he said.
“Your expertise matters,” Morphew said. “Your commitment matters. And your training, here at Johns Hopkins, matters. We need you.”
The keynote address was given by Norma L. Day-Vines, PhD, associate dean for diversity and faculty development for the Johns Hopkins School of Education and a renowned expert in counseling research and practice. In her work, Day-Vines examines the importance of multiculturalism as an indispensable tool in the delivery of culturally competent counseling and educational services for clients and students from marginalized groups.
Day-Vines thanked the students for entering the counseling profession at what she called one of the most difficult times in the history of the profession. “Thank you for your willingness to work with clients wherever they may be in hospitals, penal facilities, substance abuse centers, private practice settings, psychiatric rehabilitation programs, schools, colleges and universities, crisis centers,” she said. “Thank you for all the clients you do and will believe in even when they don’t or won’t believe in themselves.”
Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) is the international honor society of professional counseling. The honor society was established in 1985 to provide recognition of outstanding achievement and service for counselors-in-training, counselor educators, and professional counselors whose career commitment is to research and service through professional counseling. CSI has over 100,000 members, affiliated with campus-based chapters in the USA, Europe, and the Philippines contributing to their counselor education programs and communities. In fulfillment of that mission, the Lambda Chapter of CSI holds a number of events throughout the year to promote and enhance the counseling profession.
Awardees
Dr. Vivian Lee Advocacy Award: Nyki Caldwell
Outstanding Graduate Student Award – First Year Student: Shayla Brown
Outstanding Graduate Student Award – Second Year Student: Abbey Brunault
Outstanding Emerging Practitioner Award – Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Ayushi Tibrewala
Outstanding Emerging Practitioner Award – School Counseling: Cam Davis
Promising Inductee Award: Aishwarya Jayabharathi
Distinguished Board Member Awards: McKalah Hudlin and Younga Kim
