ARCA Awards
The American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA) is now seeking nominations for Specialty Awards and Student Awards recognizing outstanding scholars, practitioners, and students in rehabilitation counseling.
The Specialty Awards and Student Awards recognize outstanding scholars, practitioners, educators, and students in rehabilitation counseling, and will be presented during the ARCA Reception at the American Counseling Association (ACA) Conference and Exposition. Award recipients are encouraged to attend the annual ACA conference. We encourage you to nominate someone today!
ARCA Award Eligibility Requirements
a. All individuals submitting a nomination for the ARCA awards must be active members of ARCA at the time of submission and remain active throughout the remainder of the year.
b. All nominees must be active members of ARCA at the time of submission and remain active throughout the remainder of the year.
c. Nominations and supplementary materials must be sent to ARCA’s Office Manager, Vickie Leeming at arcaoffice@arcaweb.org and received prior to the indicated submission deadline.
Please Note: Candidates may join ARCA to be nominated for awards. For more information about becoming an ARCA member, visit: https://www.counseling.org/membership/join-renew
Description of the ARCA Awards
The James F. Garrett Award recognizes an ARCA member who has a Distinguished Career in Rehabilitation Research, which includes excellence in research contributions over one’s career. The nominee may or may not be retired to qualify. Nominee’s published research should span at least 15 years and focus on rehabilitation counseling.
Application Material: Nominations should include strong evidence supportive of the nomination which must include:
- Nominee’s Curriculum Vitae.
- Samples of publications
- Two (2) letters of support
The ARCA Research Award recognizes and honors high quality, empirical research in the field of rehabilitation counseling. Research published in peer-reviewed outlets in the current nomination year will be considered. If the submission is accepted for publication in the current year but not yet published it is also eligible for review.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Manuscripts/research accepted for publication that are within the current year, but not yet published are eligible for review.
- Must be an ARCA member.
- Retired nominees are eligible.
Application Material: Nominations should include strong evidence supportive of the nomination which must include:
- Nominee’s publication
- If manuscript not yet published: Documentation indicating the manuscript is accepted for publication.
Review Process: Reviewers for this annual award are instructed to evaluate the methodology, data collection, sample size, sample characteristics, data analysis, data interpretation, and statistical integrity of the work. A standard evaluation form is used, and volunteers are asked to be evaluators.
The Rehabilitation Counselor of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding ARCA member who has contributed to improving the lives of persons with disabilities, and in doing so, has made a substantial contribution to the practice of rehabilitation counseling. Candidates (which can include retired nominees) will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Candidate has been highly recognized by professional peers and colleagues for exemplary efforts in working with persons with disabilities in a public or private rehabilitation setting.
- Candidate has demonstrated use of innovative techniques that have practical application for achieving positive and successful rehabilitation outcomes with clients and consumers.
- Candidate has documented a distinguished record of initiating, motivating, leading, and coordinating activities related to a professional counseling association that focuses on persons with disabilities.
Nominations should speak to the above criteria and include:
- Nominee Curriculum Vitae or resume.
- Two (2) letters of support.
The Outstanding ARCA Rehabilitation Counselor Educator Award recognizes an outstanding ARCA member who fosters excellence, accessibility, innovation, and compassion as an Educator within the classroom setting. This award is for faculty members in rehabilitation counseling who perform their role of teaching the future general of counselor educators and rehabilitation counselors with excellence, and who help advance the profession through their instruction.
Nominations should speak to the above criteria and include:
- Nominee Curriculum Vitae or resume.
- At least one (1) letter of support from a current or former student of the nominee.
- The letter of support should describe the reason why the indicated educator is being nominated, while also highlighting any educational achievements, notable means of fostering accessibility, innovation, and excellence within the nominee’s teaching methods, as well as ways in which the nominee is helping prepare the incoming generation of rehabilitation counselors.
Student Awards
The ARCA Master’s Student of the Year Award recognizes a masters-level student for their outstanding contributions, academic achievements, and commitment to the rehabilitation counseling profession. All candidates must be ARCA members in good standing at their respective university and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. Candidates will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Involvement in professional organizations, campus activities, and the graduate community
- Contribution to knowledge through leadership.
- Contribution and commitment to the rehabilitation counseling profession.
Nominations should speak to the above criteria and include:
- Candidate’s Curriculum Vitae
- Candidate’s Transcript
- Letters of support
- One from an academic faculty member at the candidate’s university
- One from an individual who has personal knowledge of the candidate’s character and involvement in the field of rehabilitation counseling.
The ARCA Doctoral Student of the Year Award recognizes a doctoral-level student for their outstanding contributions, academic achievements, and commitment to the rehabilitation counseling profession. All candidates must be ARCA members in good standing at their respective university and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. Candidates will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Involvement in professional organizations, campus activities, and the graduate community
- Contribution to knowledge through leadership, research, and scholarship
- Contribution and commitment to the rehabilitation counseling profession.
Nominations should speak to the above criteria and include:
- Candidate’s Curriculum Vitae
- Candidate’s Transcript
- Letters of support
- One from an academic faculty member at the candidate’s University
- One from an individual who has personal knowledge of the candidate’s character and involvement in the field of rehabilitation counseling
Please note that the Doctoral Student Research Proposal Competition offers funding of $500 to the doctoral student with the winning proposal. Eligible applicants should be current doctoral students who have (1) an ARCA membership and (2) an active enrollment in a counselor education doctoral program focused on rehabilitation counseling at the time of application.
Required application materials include:
- Two (2) letters of reference/support that speak to the student’s ability to complete the research
- The Research Proposal Template: link here.
Additional supporting documents are optional but must be limited to eight pages.
Review Process: The proposals undergo an independent peer review process. A panel of expert reviewers assigned by the Research and Knowledge Committee will evaluate each eligible proposal for merit, feasibility, and relevance to ARCA’s mission. The ARCA Awards Committee considers all proposals, letters of support, and reports from the peer review panel. Final decisions made by the ARCA Awards Committee and ARCA Board of Directors. Each applicant will receive a copy of the reports from the peer review panel.
Funding is for the one-year period of ARCA’s fiscal year, beginning July 1 and ending June 30. At the conclusion of the one-year period, the student will prepare and submit a report of how the funding was spent and an executive summary report that describes the research for lay readers that will be considered for publication in the ARCA newsletter. The executive summary should include a discussion of the findings with respect to the professional practice of rehabilitation counseling.
Past Award Winners
2023-2024
ARCA Award Winners
2022-2023
ARCA Award Winners
ARCA Award Winners
ARCA Award Winners
ARCA Award Winners
ARCA Award Winners
ARCA Award Winners
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