Eastern Mennonite University professor David Glanzer enjoys building things. He has built a kayak, a small sailboat, even a house.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just start and learn it as you go,\u201d Glanzer says. \u201cI have dabbled in a lot of things, but I wouldn\u2019t call myself an expert in any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately for EMU, Glanzer brought quite a bit of expertise as he built something else: a fully accredited and well-respected MA in Counseling program. Glanzer and EMU professor emerita Helen Benoit Anderson co-founded the innovative program more than two decades ago. It has added new dimensions over the years, such as a unique psychotherapy program and the Institute for Experiential Therapies.<\/p>\n
Glanzer\u2019s peers have been among those taking notice. In November, Glanzer received the prestigious William H. Van Hoose Career Service Award from the Virginia Counselors Association (VCA). The award was established in 1964 \u201cto give recognition to those members whose contributions to the professional aims of the organization have been substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n
The award comes at the right time: Glanzer recently announced his retirement at the end of this academic year.<\/p>\n
Annmarie Early, one of Glanzer\u2019s colleagues at EMU, wrote one of the letters nominating Glanzer for the honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Glanzer created a structure and vision that offers a unique perspective in providing mental health services to our community,\u201d Early wrote. \u201cComing forth from the heritage of service in an Anabaptist context\u2014one that values community service and outreach\u2014he heeded his inner call to develop this now thriving program. His form of leadership for our profession is quiet, but powerful, as his faithful steps have made a way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 1971 graduate of EMU, Glanzer did his doctoral program in psychology at the University of Utah, focusing on psycholinguistics on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, before returning to Eastern Mennonite in 1977 to teach in the psychology department. He and Benoit Anderson began talking in the 1980s about the possibility of a graduate program in counseling, and in 1993 it became a reality.<\/p>\n
More than 225 students have graduated from the program since then, about a quarter of them beginning as EMU undergraduates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel most pleased that we have been able to graduate so many highly qualified counselors who come out of here with a mission to really serve people in the field,\u201d says Glanzer, who has both taught in the program and twice served as director. \u201cThe quality of the program, the tight cohort that develops between students, the relationships between students and faculty\u2014it\u2019s just been a wonderful place to do counselor education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the graduates, who represent a wide diversity of backgrounds, have gone on to receive their doctorates and become researchers and faculty members in other schools. The VCA award, Glanzer says, represents the breadth of that network.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t just win an award like this by yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone has to pull together and work together. It\u2019s a personal honor, but it\u2019s also an honor to the program as a whole. For the honor to be given at a state convention just helps put us on the map a little bit more, so that feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"