DENTON (UNT), Texas – Kara M. Hurt, a University of North Texas doctoral student from Swink, Colo., has been selected as an inaugural CACREP Research Initiative for Graduate Students (CRIGS) Fellow in the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs.

Hurt is one of two doctoral students chosen from a national pool of candidates to collaborate on research endeavors in the one-year fellowship, which begins in January. The program will provide access to data, funding for research materials, and incentive stipends for publications and presentations resulting from the fellowship.

“The opportunity to become involved with such a prestigious organization as the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs will be invaluable,” she said.

“The fellowship opens the door for me to develop research that has the potential to be very meaningful for the counseling and counselor education field,” she said. “I am very excited about the opportunity to collaborate with another CRIGS Fellow and develop some projects that can help build on our research interests.”

Hurt is working toward a doctoral degree in counseling from the Department of Counseling and Higher Education in the UNT College of Education. She earned a bachelor degree of psychology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Col., in 2007 and a master’s degree in counseling in 2011 from UNT.

“I chose to relocate to Texas to attend UNT for my master’s degree in counseling because of the state and national recognition of the UNT counseling program,” she said. “The clinical skills I have developed in the master's program are strong, and my professors have been both challenging and motivational.

“In the Ph.D. program, I continue to hone my clinical skills, as well as develop my research interests and teaching skills,” said Hurt, who credits her major professor, Casey Barrio Minton, with helping her to develop a research agenda and supporting her throughout her time in the program. “I have found this program to be rare compared to many other programs across the nation because continued development of my clinical skills is emphasized along with the development of my research and pedagogical skills.”