PNW graduate students selected for minority fellowship program & scholarship for emerging leaders

Three Purdue University Northwest (PNW) graduate students in the Marriage and Family Therapy program were selected for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s (AAMFT) Minority Fellowship Program.

Erica Garcia of Dearborn Heights, MI; Micah Brown of Indianapolis, IN; and Lexie Unhjem of Crosby, ND were chosen as part of AAMFT’s goal of expanding the delivery of culturally competent mental health and substance abuse services to underserved minority populations. The program also seeks to increase the number of culturally competent marriage and family therapists.

“Erica, Micah, and Lexie have experience working with underserved minority populations, and have a plan to further work with this population through their research and clinical work,” said Megan Murphy, Director of the Marriage & Family Therapy Program.

Murphy said information learned by the students through this program will be applied to their clinical work with clients at PNW’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, and also informs their thesis research.

Brown also received the Diversity Scholarship for Emerging Leaders at the AAMFT National Conference. The AAMFT Research and Education Foundation awards this scholarship in order to support the recruitment, training, and retention of minorities in the field of marriage and family therapy.

Purdue Northwest’s Couple & Family Therapy Center is the community-facing educational facility for PNW’s prestigious master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Known throughout the United States and internationally, the center is the preeminent learning environment that has fostered some of the field’s most influential leaders.