Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

The year was 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was elected president in a landslide over Adlai Stevenson. The first contraceptive pill was developed. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was published, and the New York Yankees won the World Series over the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. And on July 1st, the American Counseling Association (ACA) was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Of course, 50 years ago, ACA was not called "ACA." Many people think that it was called the "American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA)," but that was actually the second name. For a very short period of time, we were called the "Personnel Guidance Association (PGA)." However the "other" PGA, the Professional Golfers' Association of America, took a dislike to our initials and their lawyers suggested that we change our name (D. Coy, personal communication, November 10, 2001). So APGA (ACA) was born. To understand ACA, it is instructive to examine two aspects of our past. The first is the impetus for our beginning. The year 1952 marked the coming together of four existing organizations to form the APGA: The National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA), the National Association of Guidance and Counselor Trainers (NAGCT), the Student Personnel Association for Teacher Education (SPATE), and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA; American Counseling Association, n.d.). This coming together was for very practical purposes: to pool resources so that a national conference could be held (the first one was in Los Angeles) and to save money by sharing administrative staff. Thus ACA (APGA) was instituted as an umbrella organization that served a wide variety of constituencies. This attitude continues to be ingrained in the ACA culture. A second aspect revolves around the four organizations that came together to form ACA. NVGA, ACPA, SPATE, and NAGCT were already established organizations in 1952 and so brought established identities to the newly formed umbrella organization. These identities have defined professional counseling and set it apart from other helping professions. The oldest of the four founding groups was NVGA. Established in 1913, NVGA was formed to prepare young people for the world of work (Sheeley, 1988). NVGA has evolved into the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and has expanded its focus to career development across the life span. It is because of NCDA (NVGA) that professional counselors are trained in career counseling and methods for helping clients fit their occupation into a healthy lifestyle. Counseling is the only mental health profession that focuses on career development, and it is a core part of our identity. Without NVGA, this would never have happened. The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) was founded in 1924. ACPA triggered an important debate in ACA over the minimum qualifications necessary to be an ACA member. Why did this issue come from ACPA? It arose because unlike, the other divisions, many of ACPA's members had positions that did not revolve around the provision of counseling services. Although many ACPA members worked in college counseling centers, many others worked in student affairs: college admissions, housing, financial aid, and so on. Many counselors believed that the minimum academic credential necessary for ACA membership was a graduate degree. However, the ACPA student affairs membership believed that a bachelor's degree was appropriate for ACA membership eligibility. The issue was resolved in 1992 in a way that helped both ACPA and ACA. ACPA left ACA to focus on student affairs professionals and is still a vibrant organization. ACA then established the American College Counseling Association (ACCA) to focus on college counselors. ACA also established a master's degree as the minimum requirement for membership. As a result, the identity of professional counselors now includes the earning of a master's or doctoral degree. …