Professor Melissa Luke, Dean’s Professor of Counselor Education in the Syracuse University School of Education (SOE), has been awarded the 2024 American Counselor Association (ACA) Extended Research Award. Luke’s nomination was sponsored by the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling, a division of ACA.
The Extended Research Award recognizes an ACA member who has conducted and published high-quality research over an extended period of time on issues of significance and interest to the counseling profession. Luke will be recognized at the 2024 ACA Conference and Expo, April 11 to 13, 2024 in New Orleans.
“Dr. Luke is one of the top and most influential researchers in the counseling profession,” says Professor Beth Ferri, SOE Associate Dean for Research. “She has been named as an ACA Fellow, an honorific given to fewer than 1% of ACA members. She is highly respected in every aspect of her scholarly work—from her equity driven and transformational research, to her professional leadership and service, to her work with practitioners and counselor education students.”
Adds Ferri, “She has reached the top of her field, but she hasn’t lost sight of the need to mentor and support others. She is a valued colleague and collaborator and someone whose work has made a profound difference in the field.”
Luke’s scholarship—which includes more than 100 articles published in peer reviewed journals—focuses on counselor preparation and practice, counselor supervision, school counseling, and group work, especially in regard to the needs of underserved populations, particularly LGBTIQ+ youth.
A Nationally Certified Counselor, an Approved Clinical Supervisor, and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified School Counselor in the State of New York, for 20 years Luke served as a counselor in the Rochester, Syracuse, and Fayetteville-Manlius schools districts in Central New York.