UK’s Harley Identified for Multicultural Exploration in Counselor Instruction
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 8, 2021) — University of Kentucky School of Education professor Debra Harley has been named a 2021 recipient of the Bobbie Atkins Study Award from the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Issues. The award recognizes excellence in research in the rehabilitation discipline, with particular emphasis on research uplifting individuals with disabilities through a lens focused on multiculturalism and range.
Harley accepted the award virtually at the organization’s national meeting.
“Accepting this award meant a terrific offer to me and I am appreciative to the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns for calling interest to how our industry is effective to transform society’s perceptions of persons with disabilities, as very well as how intersecting identities perform a position. If we method the challenges of social inclusion from an asset model, alternatively than a deficit, individuals with membership in marginalized groups are afforded the prospect of self-resolve. It is vital that we look at these and other persistent and rising developments in the self-discipline, particularly as they relate to the multicultural arena. To be regarded by the foremost national firm for this operate is an honor,” Harley stated.
Harley is a Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Exclusive Education and Counselor Education at the United kingdom Higher education of Instruction. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor and a certified specialist counselor. Her award nominators observed her influence and longevity in the production of multicultural research and lauded her for being amongst the very first to introduce the field to new and significant issues that helped shape further exploration and pondering.
“Dr. Harley has served on the College or university of Education faculty for approximately a few a long time. She has significantly contributed to our program’s rise to the major of countrywide rankings and has performed a remarkable role in mentorship introducing hundreds of counselors to the subject. Dr. Harley is widely regarded for her contributions in seeking equal rights, social justice and quality of existence for people with disabilities. Additionally, she is a powerful advocate for our college students and rehabilitation counseling professionals,” said Ralph Crystal, chair of the Division of Early Childhood, Special Education and Counselor Training and the Wallace Charles Hill Professor of Counselor Education.
Harley centers her exploration on folks with mental wellbeing and substance use issues and her get the job done emphasizes value and regard for folks with disabilities. Harley has been influential in guaranteeing the field considers the intersectionality of identities among the populations served, including cultural range, gender, sexual orientation, age and other social positionalities.
Harley been given her doctoral diploma in particular instruction (early childhood) and rehabilitation counseling (substance abuse) from Southern Illinois College at Carbondale in 1992. Prior to that, she completed a master’s diploma in rehabilitation counseling at South Carolina Point out College, exactly where she also earned a bachelor’s diploma in psychology with a slight in sociology.