Doctoral student Kayla Kemp’s research is an ambitious blend of her many passions—and it’s officially funded, thanks to Kemp being named a recipient of a 2025 Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Student Research Grant.
This grant will provide significant support for the completion of her dissertation titled “The Experience of Leadership: A Phenomenological Analysis on the Leadership Experiences of Masters-level Counseling Students.”
Kemp, who is a graduate in the UI College of Education's Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral program in the Department of Counselor Education, has launched a study exploring the intersection between counselor education, leadership, and advocacy among students.
The grant will fund Kemp’s study of student leaders within master’s programs in the counseling field across the U.S. Even before their studies are over, many students already sit on statewide counseling boards.
“I’m interviewing these students and asking them about their leadership experiences. Why did they want to get involved this early on? They haven't even graduated yet. Why are they so passionate about getting involved as a leader?”
The answers to these questions are essential to Kemp, who hopes to inform educators on how best to cultivate leadership in students. The results will be personally valuable for Kemp, too—she plans to continue working in higher education after graduation. Her goal is to remain in the Midwest and teach at a university as a faculty member.
For her, counseling and mental health go beyond what happens in the office. Communication and advocacy skills are critical, and education must reflect that, she says.
“At the end of the day we're giving students the tools to be able to advocate for their clients," Kemp says. “It's going to be a part of creating better communities and more mental health wellness within our communities broadly.”
For Kemp, the acts of building community and counseling are intertwined, and that connection can be seen in the study’s structure.
The $600 grant will allow Kemp to pay her participants for their time. In a study focused on how best to support students, she viewed it as essential.
“Grad students already don't have a lot of time. A lot of them are working other jobs to pay for school,” Kemp says. “So, for me to be able to pay them and compensate them for their time, for their valuable information that they are providing me, it felt like something I really needed to do.”
Kemp’s study is set to wrap up in December, with plans to publish the results in 2026.