Professor of Psychology and Counseling

A Professor of Psychology and Counseling occupies a fundamentally dual role: they are both a scholar advancing the discipline and an educator training the next generation of psychologists, counselors, and researchers. At most four-year institutions, neither half can be neglected. Departments hire with the expectation that faculty will produce scholarship and that they will teach well — the balance between these shifts by institution type, but neither disappears entirely.

On the teaching side, the course load varies significantly. At R1 research universities, a 2-2 load (two courses per semester) is common, freeing time for grant work and publication. At regional comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges, 3-3 or 4-4 loads are standard. Courses span the breadth of the discipline: introductory psychology, developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, counseling theories, group dynamics, assessment and testing, multicultural counseling, and research methods. Graduate-level teaching adds seminar instruction, proseminar sequences, and intensive supervision of thesis and dissertation work.

Clinical supervision is a distinguishing feature of counseling faculty roles that distinguishes them from pure psychology faculty positions. Programs accredited by CACREP require that licensed faculty supervise practicum and internship students in ways that count toward licensure. This means coordinating with community placement sites, reviewing session recordings or case notes, conducting weekly individual and group supervision, and completing formal competency evaluations each semester.

The research expectations at tenure-granting institutions are real and ongoing. A junior faculty member is typically expected to publish several peer-reviewed articles per year, present at national conferences, and develop a grant funding strategy — even if initial external funding is modest. Senior faculty build research labs, mentor doctoral students through the publication process, and sit on editorial boards.

Service rounds out the role: curriculum committees, admissions committees, accreditation self-study teams, and sometimes clinical training committee oversight. At smaller departments, faculty serve on more committees more often because there are fewer people to distribute the load.

The daily rhythm of the job rarely follows a pattern — office hours, back-to-back courses, a dissertation meeting, an IRB protocol to review, a grant deadline, a student in crisis, and a manuscript revision due to a journal editor might all compete for attention in the same week. Faculty who thrive in this environment tend to be disciplined time managers with a genuine commitment to both students and their scholarship.

Education:

• PhD in clinical, counseling, school, or social psychology — required at R1 and most R2 institutions for tenure-track hire
• PhD, PsyD, or EdD in counseling or counselor education — competitive for counseling-specific faculty positions
• Postdoctoral fellowship in clinical or research settings (increasingly expected at research-intensive programs)
• Master's degree plus extensive clinical hours (minimum threshold at community colleges and some professional schools)

Licensure and clinical credentials:

• Licensed Psychologist (LP/Licensed Psychologist) — required for clinical supervision and in-house training clinic oversight at most APA-accredited programs
• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), or equivalent state credential for counseling program faculty
• National Certified Counselor (NCC) through NBCC — commonly held by counselor education faculty
• APA-accredited predoctoral internship completion for clinical/counseling psychology PhD faculty

Research and publication expectations:

• For tenure-track positions: active publication record, IRB-approved research program, and demonstrated grant-seeking activity
• Familiarity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research designs
• Experience with statistical software: SPSS, R, or Mplus for quantitative work; NVivo or Atlas.ti for qualitative analysis
• Grant writing experience with NIH, NSF, SAMHSA, or private foundations valued at research institutions

Teaching and supervision skills:

• Graduate-level course instruction experience, ideally with evidence of positive student outcomes
• Individual and group clinical supervision experience, particularly with practicum and internship students
• Familiarity with course management systems: Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle
• Online and hybrid course development experience — increasingly expected post-pandemic

Professional engagement:

• Active membership and presentation record in APA, ACA, or specialty divisions (Division 17, AMCD, ACES)
• Peer reviewer experience for journals in the discipline
• Involvement in state psychological or counseling associations for policy and licensure committee work

The academic job market in psychology and counseling has been competitive for two decades, and that reality has not changed. Doctoral programs produce more graduates than tenure-track positions can absorb, and a meaningful share of PhDs and PsyDs find their way into clinical practice, government, or industry rather than academia. Candidates entering the tenure-track pipeline should approach it with clear-eyed realism about the timeline and selectivity involved.

That said, the picture varies considerably by subfield and role type. Counseling psychology and counselor education faculty positions — particularly at CACREP-accredited programs — are consistently difficult to fill because candidates must hold both a doctoral degree and an active clinical license, a combination that takes a decade or more to accumulate. Departments at growing regional universities and professional schools have sustained hiring need in this space.

Demand for psychology and mental health services has grown substantially since 2020, and graduate enrollment in counseling programs has followed. More students in counseling master's and doctoral programs means more demand for qualified faculty, particularly those who can supervise clinical hours. Programs expanding online delivery also need faculty who can supervise remote practicum placements and design competency-based assessments that work outside the traditional classroom.

Non-tenure-track and clinical faculty positions have grown as a share of total academic hiring across higher education broadly, and psychology and counseling are no exception. These positions offer real teaching and supervisory roles, sometimes with benefits and multiyear contracts, but without the research requirement or tenure protection. For clinicians who want academic engagement without the publication treadmill, these roles are worth pursuing deliberately rather than viewing as a fallback.

On the research funding front, behavioral health has been a sustained priority at NIH — particularly the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) — and SAMHSA grant programs continue to fund applied counseling interventions. Faculty who develop grant-funded research programs gain significant salary supplement opportunities and competitive insulation from budget pressures.

For candidates completing doctoral training in 2025–2026, the most marketable profiles combine strong research productivity (publications, a clear funding trajectory) with clinical licensure and demonstrated teaching experience. The programs doing the most hiring are regional comprehensive universities expanding graduate counseling enrollment, not elite research programs — adjusting geographic expectations substantially broadens the realistic opportunity set.

Dear Search Committee,

I am writing to apply for the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at [University]. I will complete my PhD in Counseling Psychology at [University] in May, following an APA-accredited predoctoral internship at [Site] with a primary placement in a community mental health setting serving adults with serious mental illness.

My research focuses on therapeutic alliance rupture and repair processes in racially and culturally diverse dyads. I have two first-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals — one in the Journal of Counseling Psychology and one in Psychotherapy — and a third manuscript currently under review. I presented this work at the APA convention last August and received feedback that has shaped a grant proposal I am preparing for NIMH's R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award mechanism, targeted for submission in the spring cycle.

On the teaching side, I have served as instructor of record for an undergraduate abnormal psychology course for two semesters and as a teaching assistant in counseling theories and group dynamics. I have supervised three practicum students in individual supervision, and my doctoral training included a year-long supervision of supervision sequence that I found genuinely formative.

What draws me to [University] specifically is the program's CACREP accreditation and the department's stated commitment to training counselors for underserved community settings — which aligns directly with my clinical training and research focus. I am also licensed as an LPC in [State] and am prepared to initiate reciprocity as needed.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my research agenda and clinical background align with the department's needs.

Sincerely, [Your Name]