Dr. Steve D. Brown has been named director of the Counseling Center at East Tennessee State University.
Brown came to ETSU from the University of Georgia, where he was associate director of counseling and psychological services, a psychiatric and psychological clinic, after serving as director of the Counseling and Testing Center from 1987 until 2002, when the center was closed. He was also an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development Services at Georgia.
His prior positions included working in Counseling Services at Oklahoma State University, as a career counselor through the Colorado Department of Occupational Education, and as a secondary social studies teacher.
Brown has conducted research and made co-presentations, at national and international conferences, on the Career Development, Assessment and Counseling Model (CDAC) with Dr. Donald Super, the internationally known expert who developed it.
He has authored or co-authored articles in professional journals and chapters in books, co-authored a book on Super’s CDAC approach published by the American Counseling Association, and presented on numerous topics at regional and national conferences.
Other professional interests include organizational dynamics and structure, relationship dynamics and family systems, career development, “impaired professionals” (those “who are disruptive in the workplace due to their problematic personal dynamics”), and hypnosis.
Brown is a member of the American Counseling Association, American College Personnel Association, American College Counseling Association (ACCA) and other professional organizations. In 1999, he received the ACCA’s Award for Meritorious Service to Counseling Centers. He is a former president and elected member of the executive board of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors.
He received his Ph.D. in applied behavioral studies in education, with specialization in counseling psychology, from Oklahoma State, where he also earned his master’s degree in student personnel and guidance with an emphasis in counseling. He holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Tulsa, Okla.
As the new director of ETSU’s Counseling Center, Brown plans to build upon the previous success of the center and reach more students with valuable services.
“As my predecessor, Gary Petiprin, left the Counseling Center in great shape with an excellent staff,” he said, “I am in the process of determining new directions while respecting the goals and objectives that the center already has in place.”
Brown intends to enhance the center’s student outreach programs to benefit all students, helping them to get the most out of their college experience and life by making the best career and lifestyle choices and by developing healthy relationship skills.
As part of that effort, Brown is developing a course to be taught by Counseling Center staff that would help students increase their self-esteem, learn positive relationship skills and “improve their ability to make positive life decisions.”
The course will be based upon one Brown developed while at the University of Georgia, where it was well-received by students. Those who participated had fewer changes of majors than the rest of the student population and tended to stay in school, he said.
Brown also plans to seek accreditation for the Counseling Center by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS), which is the highest level of accreditation that counseling centers may attain.
“(Petiprin) and the rest of the staff have done an excellent job of putting together strong, ethical services that I feel will be readily accredited by IACS,” he said. “As a past site visitor for IACS, I would like to see this accreditation achieved to confirm the high quality of services that we have to offer our students and campus community.”

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