Dr. Paul Singleton ’17 MA, ’24 Ph.D. is the Neag School’s 2025 Outstanding Early Career Professional Alumni Award recipient. He is an accomplished educator, counselor, and advocate for equity in education. Dr. Singleton holds a master’s in school counseling and a Ph.D. in educational psychology with a focus on counselor education and supervision from Neag. In his dissertation, he challenges what it traditionally means to be college ready and expands that definition to be more inclusive and realistic. Read an interview with Dr. Singleton by one of our Counselor Education grad students, Madison May!
Interviewer (Madison May): Congratulations on Neag’s Alumni Outstanding Early Career Professional Award! Can you tell me a little about your journey to becoming a school counselor and what that means to you?
Dr. Paul Singleton: “Absolutely, I think my journey to becoming a school counselor is the standard journey, but not so much in the sense that I always had this passion for school counseling. I think initially I knew I wanted to help out my community and the only way I saw at the time when I was younger was be mayor of Philadelphia, now I didn’t see myself going into history or politics but I had this passion to not only serve my community but to improve it in the capacity that I had. As I went to college I majored in history and history education, I found myself saying, ‘Yes, the classroom and community aspect of being in a school is how I can serve but there’s something still missing.’ I think its a lot of power in the classroom to make sure that students are learning and engaged but I found there are these nuances, these things that impacts how a student impacts their day to day. I could not necessarily unpack that and teach a class at the same time. So, I did a program in Andover, Massachusetts, that’s called IRT — that’s the Institute for Recruitment of Teaching — and there was not only where I did graduate school boot camp but got the opportunity to apply to about 12 different graduate schools. I got accepted into six of them through the program and I found my passion for school counseling. During one of my career coaching sessions they just said, ‘everything that you just described fits into the role of school counselor’ and I thought you know what, yeah it is. It kind of just pushed me toward a master’s in school counseling and from that program getting accepted into the University of Connecticut. And not only embracing UConn and Storrs, Connecticut, but the opportunity they provided as well; it was the only school that gave me a full ride, as well as a GAship to not only pursue my education but to potentially become a transformative counselor.”
MM: You and I sort have a similar background there, I also got my undergrad degree in history, originally wanting to be a history teacher, but wanted to work with students more one-on-one or in smaller settings to make more of an impact. My next question is what motivated you to go on and pursue your Ph.D. and can you tell me a little about the dissertation you wrote while you were here at UConn, “Dreams and Nightmares: Experiences of Black Males in a College and Career Readiness Program During COVID-19”?
Dr. PS: “Absolutely, I think that’s a great question that falls a little into my previous responses as well. I think one of the things I learned quickly was, even though I was doing the thing, getting my master’s, going through practicum and internship, we’re doing all the things right? But throughout that there is a cap to what I can do and I could keep going back to the word: impact, influence, and purpose; those three words are the big ones for me. I knew my purpose was to serve but I wanted my impact to be felt larger. And knowing that more times than not as a school counselor you have to follow the district rules, not necessarily rules in a bad light, but there is always going to be someone else’s mission or outline to follow and what you should be doing. Versus, the agency to at times say, ‘this is what I want to do regardless of what our superintendent or principal or whatever the case may be says,’ I want that agency. And it’s hard to do that as a new school counselor or just off the master’s, where you learn the skills and then apply it to the field. The Ph.D. and the research background, so you can put the data to the practice while also expanding knowledge on what it means to be a school counselor what it means to be college and career ready, that’s something that really quenched my thirst and pushed me to apply. One of the other benefits is I was surrounded by a pretty powerful and strong community at UConn, from the graduate school, from the Black Grad Student Alliance, or just the Graduate Student Organization. I recall protesting with them outside of the president’s office; various social and academic events; tutoring, just a lot of community and every time in those spaces I saw not only people that look like me but believed in me as well. Two specific people during my time at UConn: Michael M. who got his Ph.D. from the Neag School as well as Monique Goldman, another Neag School higher education/student affairs Ph.D. graduate. They saw something in me that I didn’t see at the time and having a mentor like Dr. Erik Hines, who said ‘you can do more’ and ‘why not you’, versus saying I done what I can now time to get a job and join the workforce. When I applied and got in I was fortunate enough to carry over my fellowship from my master’s to my Ph.D., so it all worked out. I was financially able to have the time and be a full-time student. Yes, you can balance it and your time, but to have your mind just focus on school and to be able to chip away at it, there is something to be said about that. Especially when you are pursuing a terminal degree like a Ph.D. and there are intensive readings and research, to balance a full-time job it would have been a lot to say the least. Not impossible, but a lot.
And to answer your question on my dissertation, so ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ it stemmed from one, the pandemic, and really just trying to highlight how do Black students, particularly Black males, how do we prepare them for college and career readiness. And what I wanted to unpack, which I am working on in my current lived practice, is unpacking and expanding the definition of what it means to be college and career ready. I think too often there is a hyperfocus on the academics, ‘I need that 95, that A, a B isn’t acceptable’ but these quantitative things that say we are college and career ready. But no, I could be a good test taker, I can do well on standardized exams, whether it’s the SAT or ACT, but am I a good person? Do I know how to manage my time properly? Do I know how to be empathetic? So, utilizing things like emotional intelligence, empathy, mindfulness, these soft skills per say to expand what it means to be college and career ready. And we saw this based on the research I was doing with Scholars House, one of the running communities on campus, we saw (and it was a good juxtaposition for me) when we saw these high achieving high school students, they come into college, they feel that because ‘I was cum laude’ or ‘I was the top student’ that, ‘I’m going to be successful, it’s going to be easy’. But then they come to find out it is not that easy, not just because of the rigor academically that is different but now I need to know what it means to be a young adult. I need to know how to find my champions, to advocate for myself, to get resources. So, the purpose of that dissertation, especially at that critical time where the pandemic shut everything down, trying to make sure not only do we have this definition of what holistic college and career readiness looks like but also making sure we start pushing students toward developing those skills. And that’s just a little bit of the research I was able to find and do.”
MM: Thank you, that’s great. It sounds like you are doing amazing work. One final question: What is one piece of advice you’d like to give to future counselors like myself and my classmates?
Dr. PS: “I think be you. I’m going to make an assumption here but you and your cohort members are young, right, and one of the things I have learned in my profession this year, and being mindful of the Ph.D., the master’s degree, the writing and research, all the things that came with me as I got this career, sometimes I am still viewed as that young counselor. I’m viewed as, just to be transparent, a Black male counselor, a Black male Ph.D. And that does not mean I’m not capable, we know I am, but I think the challenge for others when you come into a space, particularly a school like where I am the Potomac School, its an independent school, and its very affluent very white. Not seeing someone who is one, animated and passionate like myself but then being able to separate your view of somebody versus what they are and that is a challenge when you go into the career force. Especially when you have tenured faculty, ‘I’ve been here 15 years, I’ve been a counselor for the last 30 years’ its like yes, but, one, we have to evolve and grow but, two, you have to see me as a colleague and not as a kid. You have to see me as a champion and not as a student, and just because I just got out of school or I learned these skills and am ready to immerse myself into the workforce in this space, doesn’t make me any less of a champion or less of a candidate to do what I know I am purposed to do. And I think I would always want to remind future counselors to be confident, be firm. You got trained by the best of the best, Dr. Prescod, right? You know what you’re doing, you know how to do this. Jim, I know he’s retiring but I’m sure there were some great lessons in Boys to Men if you took that class. But the point is be confident, you were trained by the best to be the best counselor you can be, be open to feedback, be open to growth, but also be confident in who you are. And my final piece of advice would be do not be stagnant, don’t be complacent. Unless you do want that vision of being a 30-year veteran school counselor, that may be your passion, but don’t just settle for being in a job and being complacent and good. Go for the director of school counseling program, go aim for other avenues. The best part about being in our program was taking some classes in other departments, taking HESA (higher education and student affairs) classes, taking classes in other departments in Neag that have ultimately benefited me because I have this holistic view versus just based on what I know from Sue & Sue, like no there has to be more and taking that and applying it in your work. And I think when you all go into your career, be that counselor, do that job to the best of your ability then look to be more if that is what you aspire. But do not handicap yourself because you just have a school counseling degree, no your degree is transferable, you are showing that you the skills to apply no matter what field you are in, whether its non-profit, for profit, independent school or public school. And I think too often we get siloed by society or what our degree says versus striving for something more. And I think that’s part of my success, being able to say, ‘Yes I am a school counselor… and a program director for the Leadership and Mentor program and researcher and a DEI team member’ you see what I mean? Does that answer your question?”
MM: Yes, thank you so much; that is solid advice. And thank you for taking the time to chat today!