On December 4, 2014, Sylvia Fernandez, associate dean of Barry University’s Adrian Dominican School of Education, joined President Obama, the First Lady, and Vice President Biden, along with hundreds of college presidents and other higher education leaders to announce new actions to help more students prepare for and graduate from college. Fernandez was in attendance representing the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
The White House College Opportunity Day of Action supports the President’s commitment to partner with colleges and universities, business leaders, and nonprofits to support students across the country to help our nation reach its goal of leading the world in college degree attainment. The summit’s participants were asked to commit to new action in one of four areas: building networks of colleges around promoting completion, creating K-16 partnerships around college readiness, investing in high school counselors as part of the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative, and increasing the number of college graduates in the STEM fields.
CACREP’s commitment included initiatives aimed at revising and implementing accreditation standards in an effort to better prepare school counselors to facilitate college readiness.
Under Fernandez’s leadership and through its CACREP accreditation, Barry’s MS in Counseling program has a long history of preparing students to be professional counselors.
In addition to Fernandez’s attendance, Barry was represented by President Sister Linda Bevilacqua. Barry was chosen for its commitment to increasing retention and completion rates of low-income, women, and underrepresented minority students in the STEM fields.
In addition to her role as assistant dean, Fernandez serves as Chair of CACREP Board of Directors.
For more information on the College Opportunity Day of Action, visit this link: WhiteHouse.gov/College-Opportunity.
For more information on Barry’s MS in Counseling program, please visit: http://www.barry.edu/counseling-ms/.