Dr. Rose Heilman-Houser

What courses are you currently teaching?
ELEC 281 Family and Community Diversity and Partnerships
ELEC 470 Social Studies and Citizenship
ELEC 420 FIELD COORDINATOR

What are you most proud of concerning those courses?
I am working to assure that students are truly learning. In ELEC 281 we have done some reviews to reinforce information. In 470, I am working very hard to make social studies life applicable. As the field coordinator, I have tried to place students where they will be happy and learn.

What scholarly/projects are you working on in your classes?
Students in 470 have made some amazing Social Studies games and learning centers. One semester, we gave them to teachers who were greatly appreciative and are using them in their classrooms.

What student stories can you share?
This is hard. There are so many stories from the hilarious to great sadness and everything in between. I think the greatest story is those that stay in touch after they graduate. It is wonderful to be able to count former students as peers and friends and to watch their lives being enriched as they get jobs, marry, have children, and grow as individuals.

What do you do for fun during your free time or school break?
I do a lot of reading and course revising. I love spending time with my family. I am an animal lover and I enjoy spending time with all my pets that include: 11 goats, 6 alpacas, a miniature donkey, a pony, a potbelly pig, and cats and dogs.

What most do you appreciate about SRU?
The students! I love getting to know the students and working with them. It is the best part of the job. SRU students are awesome! I also appreciate that the faculty gets along and supports one another.

What made you want to be a faculty member at the college level?
The opportunity to work with so many students and hopefully help them to become teachers that will go out and have a positive impact on their students and the world.

Dr. Jane Hale

What courses are you currently teaching? 
Fall, 2015
Social and Cultural Diversity
Counseling in the Schools
School Counseling Practicum
School Counseling Internship
Spring, 2016
Helping Relationships
Career Counseling
Practicum in Counseling Supervision
School Counseling Internship

What are you most proud of concerning those courses?
Social and Cultural Diversity: I get to be an active part of helping students recognize their own socio-cultural development, which includes questioning ideas and concepts that may be uncomfortable to process. I am honored to be a part of what I believe to be “a life changing experience” related to how our students engage in a multicultural world. In this class, they learn how to be an ally to marginalized groups while recognizing their own developmental journey.

What scholarly/projects are you working on in your classes?
In Counseling in the Schools, my students have had the opportunity to engage in two experiential projects. A few years ago, after I taught a lesson about anti-bullying programs and specifically focused on a program called “Challenge Day,” my students quickly got on their phones and searched for opportunities to volunteer at a Challenge Day program. They found one that was within driving distance, wrote a small grant, and received some additional funding from our department to pursue this experience. I am proud to say that word got around about the impact their volunteer work had on their personal development as emerging school counselors and now each year I teach this class, students are asking to attend “Challenge Day.” I am equally proud that my department is so supportive of this professional development endeavor.
Secondly, a few years ago I had some practicum site supervisors comment that my school counseling students are well prepared to counsel students, but seem underprepared to teach guidance lessons. Because of the changing face of school counseling, more and more school counselors are spending a lot of time in the classroom where they can meet the needs of a higher number of students. Responding to this need, I added a component of teaching guidance lessons to this class. For the past two years, my students taught lessons at New Horizon School, a public special needs school in Beaver, PA. This year, we expanded the program even more though our collaboration with the Slippery Rock Area School District. They partnered with us and worked through all of the stages of developing effective programming in a school. My students taught Career Counseling Lessons to students in grades 3, 4, and 6 in Area Elementary School and Slippery Rock Middle School. This was in response to a need identified by the school counselors and assistant superintendent to meet the PA Career Education and Work Standards.

What do you do for fun during your free time or school break?
Read books, work-out, hike, camp, watch my daughter play softball, and build blocks with my son

What most do you appreciate about SRU?
The emphasis on student development.

What made you want to be a faculty member at the college level?
I remember the excitement I felt when I finally figured out that I wanted to be a counselor. I treasured my time working on my master’s degree in counseling and also a graduate assistant. I knew that I always wanted to help other students reach their goals during this developmental time in their lives. I loved everything about graduate school and always knew that I wanted to be a part of this process with others.

If you could have one super power what would it be? Why?
I wish I had the super power to get my husband off his recliner to do work around the house.