Who are We?
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- is a comprehensive, land-grant institution originally chartered in 1867
- is located on a 1,470-acre campus in east-central Illinois
- enrolls more than 52,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students
- boasts students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries
- student body consists of approximately 55% men, 45% women; 5% African Americans; 7% Latinos/as, 14% Asian Americans; 0.12% Native Americans; and 14% international students
- has competitive admissions with the average student ranking in the top 10 percent of her/his high school class
- includes many nationally and internationally recognized graduate, professional, and research programs, consistently ranked among the top ten in national surveys
- is among the top ten in the number of earned doctorates awarded annually in the United States
- has the largest public university library in the world, housing more than 24 million items in the main library building and in more than forty departmental libraries and units campus wide
- has 27 Nobel laureates and 30 Pulitzer Prize winners as alumni, faculty, or researchers
Urbana and Champaign Metro
- have a combined population of 207,000
- are two to three hours by car from Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis
- are easily accessible by air, rail, and interstate highways
- offer a variety of activities and attractions
Community Resources
- Visit Champaign County
- Smile Politely (Champaign's arts, culture, and leisure website)
The Counseling Center
- Founded in 1937
- Tradition of quality doctoral intern training which has existed for over six decades
- Part of the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs along with such offices as: McKinley Health Center (including the Mental Health Department), The Career Center, Housing, Financial Aid, International Student and Scholars Services, Minority Student Affairs, Illini Union, Campus Recreation, and State Farm Center
- Maintains a cooperative relationship with many campus agencies and student groups such as: Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations, Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural Latina, LGBT Resource Center, Women’s Resources Center and Native American House.
Contact Information
Counseling Center
110 Student Services Building
610 East John Street
Champaign, IL 61820
TTY 217-244-9146
Fax 217-244-7586
Contact for Doctoral Internship
Tzu-An Hu, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Training
217-333-3704
Contact for Practicum Program
Patricia Ricketts, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Training
217-333-3704
Counseling Center Mission Statement
“The Counseling Center is committed to providing a broad range of high quality, innovative, and ethical services that address the psychological, educational, social, and developmental needs of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students. We also actively contribute to the campus’s broader academic mission by training and developing students and professionals, helping build a multicultural learning community, and providing leadership in forming collaborative partnerships among Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, the Graduate College and Administrative Affairs units.”
Counseling Center professional staff consists of:
- 32 clinical counselors
- a range of therapeutic orientations including interpersonal, developmental, psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, multicultural/feminist, client-centered, and family systems
- a research data analyst, a media communications coordinator, coordinators and staff for the INNER VOICES Social Issues Theatre Program, the Counseling Center Paraprofessional Program, an information technology analyst, graduate assistants, practicum students, approximately 30 undergraduate paraprofessionals, and support staff in reception and business offices in addition to clinical counselors
- members who participate in research, national and regional professional organizations, meetings, and conferences
Our Services are supported by student fees from undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and include:
- Initial evaluation and assessment
- Referral to additional on and off campus services
- Individual and couples counseling
- Group counseling
- Consultation
- Educational workshops
- Paraprofessional Program
- INNER VOICES Theatre Group
- Alcohol and Other Drug Assessment
- Eating Disorder Assessments
- Assessments for cognitive and psychiatric disabilities
Our Clients
Because we conceptualize interns as professionals in training, we encourage them to see a wide range of clientele similar to that of our permanent clinical counselors. Presenting concerns at the Center range from developmental adjustment to more severe psychopathology. Counselors come into contact with diversity in terms of client characteristics as well as client presenting concerns. Continuing client caseloads are determined in consultation with supervisors to include both breadth as a generalist and specific populations (e.g., people struggling with depression; African-American men; clients with Axis II diagnoses, etc.).