Susannah Wood, associate professor in the UI College of Education’s Rehabilitation and Counselor Education Department and former NCACES president, was recently awarded the Deanna Hawes Mentorship Award and the Presidential Award from the North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (NCACES).

Wood received the award at the 2019 Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Conference on Oct. 11, 2019.

The Deanna Hawes Mentorship Award is given to individuals who have been a significant mentor to graduate students, emerging professionals, and educators through building strong and trustworthy student relationships, facilitating support of professional development, and creating safe and exploratory environments that support experiential learning.

“Dr. Wood creates a safe environment that makes it possible for students and professionals to believe they can achieve everything she proposes,” says Erin Lane (MA ’09, PhD ’18), assistant professor at Western Illinois University. “With her as my guide during my doctoral program, I was able to not only learn the formal techniques behind her successful teaching, but also discover the artistry and passion that form in the essence of her instruction. My current students benefit from the invaluable lessons I learned during my teaching internship with her.”

The Presidential Award is chosen by the NCACES president and is confirmed by the NCACES executive council. The award honors a NCACES member who engaged in consistent and outstanding service that made a difference in the organization.

“As president, Dr. Wood provided much need organizational development, including reestablishing committees and task forces, significantly updating organizational bylaws, and reinstituting regular Executive Council meetings, all of which stabilized the organization and ignited productivity,” says NCACES past president, Cassandra Storlie. “Dr. Wood is passionate, inspiring, and fiercely intelligent.”

Wood who has worked at the UI College of Education since fall 2006, teaches both doctoral students and students who are pursuing their master’s in school counseling with an emphasis in gifted education in partnership with the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talented Development.

Her research interests encompass preparing school counselors for their practice with a focus on serving the gifted population in collaboration with other educators and professionals.

Over the years, she has worked with hundreds of students to inspire and influence their counseling, research, teaching, and service.

Wood says she is grateful and moved to have her mentorship and service recognized by her peers.

“It is a very moving, very meaningful award. My presidency was really about reimaging the infrastructure required for the region to function well,” says Wood. “Editing operations manuals, writing role and function statements, and establishing the processes and procedures behind membership communication, or defining committee scope and function isn’t glamorous but it’s necessary. It is meaningful that NCACES also thought that those things were important and worthy to note.”