--- title: Faculty Present at 2023 ACES Conference in Denver description: PAU faculty and alumni attended the 2023 ACES Conference in Denver, highlighting significant contributions and achievements in counselor education and supervision. --- [News ](https://paloaltou.edu/resources/news) # [Faculty Present at 2023 ACES Conference in Denver](https://paloaltou.edu/resources/news/aces-2023-conference-denver) Written by [Staff](https://paloaltou.edu/resources/news/author/admin) | Oct 15, 2023 7:00:00 AM Palo Alto University (PAU) faculty and alumni attended the 2023 ACES Conference in Denver, Colorado from October 11-15, 2023. ACES is the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Members are counselors, supervisors, graduate students, and faculty members who strive to improve the education and supervision of counselors in training and in practice. This year was particularly exciting because faculty member [Margaret Lamar, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/margaret-lamar-phd), is serving as the ACES President, and PAU recently announced a [new PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision](https://www.paloaltou.edu/academic-programs/phd-counselor-education-and-supervision). Additionally, Dr. Donna Sheperis was recognized with the 2023 WACES Outstanding Mentor Award (pictured, right). Alumni and faculty also gathered in Denver for an Alumni Mixer at the Thirsty Lion Gastropub. It was a great opportunity to reconnect, network, and unwind! The following sessions or panels included PAU faculty. Note: while many of the sessions were conducted with colleagues from other institutions, we have only highlighted PAU community members here. For a complete conference program, please visit the [ACES Conference website](https://web.cvent.com/event/f86c3e23-70ea-4c45-adc6-c55333143926/websitePage:118a665a-c9f5-4bba-9407-11934078d49c). #### Counselors-in-training’s Clinical Preparedness to Work with Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious and Suicidal [LaToya Smith, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/latoya-smith-phd-lpc-texas),[Shreya Vaishnav, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/shreya-vaishnav-phd),[Karen Roller, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/karen-roller-phd-mft),[Rachel Jacoby, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/rachel-jacoby-phd) #### Counseling Children Birth to Five: Implications for Counselor Education [Rachel Jacoby, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/rachel-jacoby-phd) #### Increasing Social Connectedness and Inclusion for Minoritized and International Students in Online Learning [Shreya Vaishnav, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/shreya-vaishnav-phd) #### Developing a Bilingual Certificate [Szu-Yu (Darlene) Chen, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/szu-yu-darlene-chen-phd-lpcc-ncc-rpt), Jackie Grapa, PhD (alum),[Karen Roller, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/karen-roller-phd-mft) #### Counseling Womxn: A Panel Discussion on Teaching Intersectional Women's Issues in Counselor Education [Megan Speciale, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/megan-speciale),[Donya Wallace, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/donya-wallace-phd-ncc-lpc),[Margaret Lamar, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/margaret-lamar-phd) #### How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Counseling and Counselor Education [Donna Sheperis, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/donna-s-sheperis-phd-lpc-ncc-acs-ccmhc-board-certified-telemental-health-provider) #### Humanistic Pedagogy in Counselor Education [Donna Sheperis, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/donna-s-sheperis-phd-lpc-ncc-acs-ccmhc-board-certified-telemental-health-provider) #### Addressing the Practitioner Research Gap: Engaging Online Master’s Level Students [Susan Branco, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/susan-branco-phd-lpc-va-lcpc-md-ncc-acs-bc-tmh) #### The Adoptee Consciousness Model: Preparing Counselors-in-Training to Work with Adopted Populations [Susan Branco, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/susan-branco-phd-lpc-va-lcpc-md-ncc-acs-bc-tmh) #### I Noticed and I’m Concerned: Monitoring Professional Dispositions in an Online Counseling Program [Regina Moro, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/regina-moro-phd) #### Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders [Regina Moro, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/regina-moro-phd) #### Supervision Experiences and Strategies Affirming LGBTGEQIAP+ Identified Persons [Chi Li, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/chi-li-phd-ncc) #### Disability Erasure in Counselor Education: Strategies to Increase Disability Visibility [Tameeka Hunter, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/tameeka-hunter-phd-lpc-ncc-crc) #### Counselors’ challenging experience in integrated behavioral healthcare: A qualitative exploration [Chi Li, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/chi-li-phd-ncc) #### Counseling Children Birth to Five: Implications for Counselor Education [Rachel Jacoby, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/rachel-jacoby-phd) #### Real talk on navigating academia from diverse intergenerational perspectives [Tameeka Hunter, PhD](https://www.paloaltou.edu/faculty/tameeka-hunter-phd-lpc-ncc-crc) A photo album from the conferences has been uploaded to Facebook.[View the photos here.](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.747074520770371&type=3) [View full post](https://paloaltou.edu/resources/news/aces-2023-conference-denver) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Staff" }, "dateModified" : "2025-10-20T19:54:30.704Z", "datePublished" : "2023-10-15T07:00:00Z", "headline" : "Faculty Present at 2023 ACES Conference in Denver", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 628, "url" : "https://20705724.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20705724/PAU%20News/News-Faculty%20Present%20At%202023%20ACES%20Conference%20In%20Denver-1200x628.jpg", "width" : 1200 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://paloaltou.edu/resources/news/aces-2023-conference-denver", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60, "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png", "width" : 60 }, "name" : "News" } } ```