Alfred University counseling professor wins research competition, named emerging scholar

The American Rehabilitation Counseling Association awarded first place honors in its annual research competition to Kevin Curtin, assistant professor of counseling at Alfred University, and his co-author, Jorge Garcia of George Washington University.

Curtin and Garcia were chosen after a blind review of nominated articles for their study comparing two work-based learning interventions used with high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Their research, which appeared in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation, demonstrated that students engaged in service-learning projects showed better work performance, motivation, peer relations, school adjustment, and overall social competence than those who completed paid internships.

Curtin and Garcia will be honored later this month at the annual conference of the American Counseling Association in San Francisco.

Earlier this year, the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) named Curtin a 2012 Emerging Scholar. Curtin presented “The Social Climate of Multifamily Therapy Groups in a Social Education Program” at the ASGW Research Institute, in Albuquerque, N.M.

Curtin joined the faculty of the Division of Counseling and School Psychology at Alfred University in August 2010, after serving for many years as director of the Frost School in Rockville, Md. He has taught classes in family therapy, substance abuse counseling, and professional and ethical foundations of counseling.

Curtin earned a doctorate in counseling from George Washington University.