Biographical Sketch

Jane E. Myers is a Professor of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received her Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master's in rehabilitation counseling, specialist in counseling and educational administration, and doctorate in counselor education with certificate in gerontology also were received from the University of Florida. She is a National Certified Counselor, National Certified Gerontological Counselor, and was one of the first Certified Rehabilitation Counselors. In addition, she maintains a Licensed Professional Counselor Credential North Carolina.

Dr. Myers has worked as a rehabilitation counselor and administrator of aging programs in the state of Florida. She directed five national grant projects on aging for the American Counseling Association (ACA), with funding in excess of $1,000,000. These projects developed curriculum materials to train counselors to work with older persons, provided continuing education for more than 3,200 practicing professional counselors in gerontological issues, developed a model and curriculum resources for infusion of gerontological counseling into counselor education, and a statement of competencies for training of gerontological counselors. The competencies formed the basis for the National Certified Gerontological Counselor credential that was established through the National Board for Certified Counselors as well as the national standards for counselor accreditation in gerontological counseling through CACREP, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.

Dr. Myers was President of the American Association for Counseling and Development, now the American Counseling Association, in 1990-91. She has been president of two ACA divisions, the Association for Assessment in Counseling and the Association for Adult Development and Aging, for which she served as Founding President. She has been an officer, member, and committee chair for national and division committees of several AACD divisions, including AADA, AMECD, ACES, and ARCA. She has served on the editorial board for several AACD journals, has guest edited several journals including two special issues of the Journal of Counseling & Development, and was selected as the Founding Editor for the Journal of Adult Development and Aging, ACAs first fully electronic journal. She also served as President of Chi Sigma Iota, the international honor society in counseling, as well as Rho Chi Sigma, the rehabilitation counseling honor society, and Sigma Phi Omega, the national gerontology honor society. She has been chair of the Counseling and Human Development Foundation (CHDF) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). She was selected as Chair of the ACA Executive Director Search Committee, a committee charged to locate a new chief executive officer to oversee ACAs nine million dollar budget and 100 headquarters staff

She has written and edited more than 20 books and monographs, over 130 refereed journal articles, and more than 50 additional publications. She co-produced seven training videotapes for gerontological counseling. Her books include Adult Children and Aging Parents, Competencies for Gerontological Counseling. Most recently she co-edited the Handbook of Counseling with Drs. Don C. Locke and Edwin Herr, and co-authored with Allen and Mary Ivey and Tom Sweeney Developmental Counseling and Therapy: Promoting Wellness Across the Lifespan.

Among her honors are ACAs highest award, the Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Humanitarian and Caring Person Award, as well as the ACA Research Award, the ACA Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award, and the Distinguished Service Awards of both the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, and the ACA Extended Research Award which she will receive this year. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association. She was selected as a Charter Fellow of the Chi Sigma Iota Academy of Leaders for Excellence. Most recently, she was honored by inclusion in Leaders and Legacies in Counseling, a book that chronicles the contributions of the some of the most significant leaders in the counseling profession over the last century.

A co-author of one theoretical and two evidence based models of wellness and assessment instruments based on these models, Dr. Myers teaches a course on wellness and is an advocate for wellness lifestyles for her students and others, of all ages across the lifespan. She both conducts and assists other researchers in conducting studies of wellness for diverse populations. Dr. Myers lectures, consults, and conducts research nationally and internationally on issues related to counseling, aging, and wellness.