The AARC Emerging Leaders Program provides graduate counseling students and new professionals early in their careers with experiences that develop leadership skills and competencies. Emerging Leaders (ELs) actively participate in AARC Executive Board meetings, serve on committees or task forces, engage in projects of interest, present at conferences, receive mentorship, build professional networks, and gain exposure to the responsibilities of elected leadership positions.

We seek applicants who exhibit exceptional leadership potential and are willing to serve AARC in various roles to improve the counseling profession. Applicants for the AARC EL program should aim to become counselor educators. Recipients must be AARC members at the time of application submission. Emerging Leaders receive complimentary registration to the 2025 AARC Conference and partial reimbursement for travel (one night’s hotel costs, and one day’s meals).

We will select four ELs for this term, which begins on July 1, 2025, and ends on June 30, 2026. Two ELs will be students at the master’s or doctoral level, and two ELs will be new professionals (i.e., graduated from a doctoral program in the past three years). Applicant status should be based on student/graduation status as of January 1, 2025.

AARC ELs are asked to:

• Provide a minimum of 50 hours of service to the AARC (including membership on at least one committee/taskforce and monthly mentorship meetings)
• Attend the annual AARC conference, including the annual board meeting and awards ceremony, and assist with registration and other tasks as needed
• Present at the annual AARC conference
• Contribute at least once to AARC social media
• Attend two virtual professional development events (fall 2025/spring 2026)

Interested applicants should submit all applicant materials into the google form

(AARC EL Application) no later than June 1^st, 2025:

1. The AARC Emerging Leaders application (AARC EL Application)
2. Your curriculum vitae/resume
3. Two letters of recommendation describing your leadership skills and experiences, and reasons why you should be selected to serve as an EL. Letters from AARC members are preferred.

The selection committee will notify applicants of the status of the application by June 30^th, 2025. We look forward to another great year of service with AARC!

Dr. Charmayne Adams and Dr. Kelly Emelianchik-Key
EL Co-Chairs