MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY
Core Program Faculty
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Bryan S. K. Kim, Ph.D., Professor, Counseling Psychology Program Director
Dr. Bryan S. K. Kim joined our faculty in August 2006. He received the Ph.D. in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology with an emphasis in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in June of 2000. He also has a Master of Education in School Counseling (1995) and a Bachelor of Education in Secondary Science Education (1992), both from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Dr. Kim is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (MHC196) in the State of Hawaii. In terms of faculty positions prior to arriving at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo in 2006, Dr. Kim was an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park from August 2000 to June 2002. In July 2002, Dr. Kim returned to UCSB as an Assistant Professor in the Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Program. In July 2005, he was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at the UCSB. Dr. Kim has over 60 publications in the areas of multicultural counseling process and outcome, measurement of cultural constructs, counselor education and supervision, and immigrant experiences. His current research examines the effects of culture-specific counseling interventions and client enculturation/acculturation (e.g., cultural values) on counseling process and outcome. Dr. Kim's interest in multicultural counseling psychology largely stems from his experiences growing up in Hawai'i as a 1.5-generation Asian American. Dr. Kim is currently Associate Editor of The Counseling Psychologist, the Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, and the Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, and Training, and the Educational Researcher. In 2003, Dr. Kim received the “Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions” from the Asian American Psychological Association. In 2005, Dr. Kim received the “ACA Research Award” from the American Counseling Association and “The MECD [Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development] Editor's Award” from the Association for Assessment in Counseling and Development. In 2006, Dr. Kim received "The Fritz and Linn Kuder Early Career Scientist/Practitioner Award" from the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association). Most recently in 2008, Dr. Kim received the “Emerging Professional Award” from the Society of the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (Division 45 of APA) and was awarded Fellow Status by the APA.
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B. Christopher Frueh, Ph.D., Professor
Chair, Division of Social Sciences Dr. B. Christopher Frueh joined our faculty in August 2006. He has been conducting mental health services research for the past 16 years at the Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina Department of Mental Health, and VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC. In Charleston he was Director of the Division of Public Psychiatry and of the VA PTSD Clinical Team, and a tenured Professor of Psychiatry. He has been an independently funded investigator on 11 federally grants as PI from National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ), Veterans Affairs (VA), and Department of Defense (DOD) since 1999. In August of 2006 he was awarded an NIMH Mid-Career Development (K24-MH074468) grant titled Mentoring/Career Development in PTSD Services Research—to expand knowledge of community violence in rural areas, improve services, and examine the impact of traumatic exposure on a range of relevant mental health, health and economic variables. He has authored over 125 original peer-reviewed scientific reports and book chapters. He reviews regularly for several different federally funding agencies and about 15 different scientific journals, serves on the editorial board of five of these (the American Psychological Association’s new services journal Psychological Services, Journal of Personality Assessment, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Clinical Psychology Review, and Journal of Trauma and Practice), and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress.
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Steve Herman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Steve Herman joined our faculty in August 2005. He received his Ph. D. in counseling psychology from Stanford University in 1998 and is licensed to practice as a psychologist in Hawai’i.
His areas of clinical and research interest include the study of professional judgments about the validity of allegations of child sexual abuse evaluations, juror decision making in criminal trials, behavioral medicine (especially psychosocial interventions for cancer and heart disease patients), mitigating the impact of financial catastrophes such as foreclosure and bankruptcy on mental health, career counseling, group counseling, the use of the computers and the Internet to facilitate psychological research and interventions, and positive psychology. He has two major current research projects focusing on a) mental health professionals' judgments about the validity of child sexual abuse allegations and b) the accuracy of jury verdicts in criminal trials.
At UH Hilo, Steve teaches courses on ethics, counseling theories and skills, career counseling, group counseling, child maltreatment, and psychological assessment. He also supervises our masters' students practicum and internship experiences.
In August 2008, Steve organized and co-presented a one-day continuing education workshop entitled "Forensic Child Sexual Abuse Evaluations: Research and Practice" at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. He also organized a research symposium on the same topic at that convention.
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Charmaine Higa-McMillan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Dr. Charmaine K. Higa-McMillan joined our faculty in August 2009. She received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) in 1999 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tulsa in 2004. Dr. Higa-McMillan is licensed to practice as a psychologist in the State of Hawaii. Before arriving at UHH, Dr. Higa-McMillan completed a three year postdoctoral fellowship at UHM where she served as a clinical supervisor and project co-director for a randomized controlled effectiveness trial examining evidence-based practices for children with anxiety, depression, and/or disruptive behavior problems in community clinics and school settings. She stayed on at UHM as an Assistant Professor of Research where she studied public mental health services for children and adolescents enrolled in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division (CAMHD) in the Hawaii State Department of Health. She provided research and evaluation services to CAMHD as well as conducted clinical services research. Dr. Higa-McMillan has 19 peer-reviewed scientific reports, book chapters, and technical reports in the areas of childhood social anxiety and self-consciousness, measurement of anxiety in children and adolescents, dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices for youth, and mental health services for children and adolescents. She also has over 12 empirical papers under review or in progress, has presented more than 40 times at national conferences, and reviews regularly for five different scientific journals. Dr. Higa-McMillan was born and raised in Hilo and is excited to be back home. CV, higac@hawaii.edu |
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Sunyoung Kim, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Dr. Kim will join our faculty in January, 2010. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University in 2004. She also has a Masters in Psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York, and another Masters in Women’s Studies from Ewha Womans University in Korea. She received her B.S. from the Seoul National University in Korea. Dr. Kim is currently working as a social science research associate at Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where she has been directing several treatment outcome studies on anxiety disorders funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Kim’s research projects at Stanford investigate efficacy of capnometer-feedback-assisted breathing therapy for PTSD, panic disorder and other anxiety disorders. These projects measure psychological and physiological effects of the breathing therapy. Before she came to the U.S. to attend the graduate school in psychology, she taught women’s studies at several universities in Korea. While in Korea, Dr. Kim worked at a research institute in which she carried out government funded research projects on sexual violence and crime. She co-founded the first rape crisis center in Korea (The Korean Sexual Violence Relief Center) with her colleagues, and volunteered at the center as a counselor. Dr. Kim’s bi-cultural and inter-disciplinary background shaped her interests in improving lives of marginalized individuals and cultivating diversity. Dr. Kim’s research and clinical interests include treatment outcome of anxiety disorders including PTSD and panic disorder; cross-cultural approaches to trauma, resilience and mental health behaviors; women and minority issues in clinical psychology. She has received a number of fellowships and grants which include the international fellowship of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) that funded her doctoral dissertation on child abuse in Korea. She is licensed to practice as a psychologist in the states of New York and California. CV, sykim47@stanford.edu |
Additional Faculty
Gay Barfield, Ph.D., okika@aloha.net
Will Concepcion, Ph.D., wrconcep@hawaii.edu
Ron Gordon, Ph.D., rgordon@hawaii.edu
Errol Yudko, Ph.D., errol@hawaii.edu