UNC School of Education

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

“People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.”

- Blaise Pascal

Overview

Patrick Akos’s research is conceptually based in Strengths-Based School Counseling (Galassi & Akos, 2007) and centers on how school counselors can promote optimal development in early adolescence. In particular, his work articulates strategies to promote strengths and protective factors for students in middle school. In addition to his coauthored SBSC text, Akos has written broadly on developmental topics such as body image, racial identity, and resiliency; as well as education and counseling topics including aspiration gaps, differentiating classroom guidance, math placement in middle school, group work in schools, and the impact of counseling programs on academic achievement in middle schools.

A critical issue facing most early adolescents is school transitions (moving from elementary to middle to high school), a primary focus of Akos’s work. His inquiry began as a school counselor, when he obtained a grant from the American School Counselor Association to document positive aspects of student perceptions in the transition to middle school. This line of inquiry has continued on student, parent and teacher/staff perceptions, connectedness and engagement as moderators of successful transitions, and the contribution students make to negotiate the transition. As a lead author Akos has disseminated programming ideas in a book titled Promoting a Successful Transition to Middle School.

His work continues to investigate how school counselors specifically, and schools more broadly, can promote optimal developmental pathways into, out of, and throughout middle school and/or early adolescence.

Educational Background

• Ph.D. 2000 - University of Virginia
• M.A. 1995 - Morehead State University
• B.S. 1993 - Vanderbilt University

Research Interests

• School Transitions
• Middle School
• Strengths-Based School Counseling

Teaching Areas

• Introduction to Strengths-Based School Counseling
• Promoting Career Development
• Group Counseling and Guidance
• School Counseling Clinical Course Work

Courses

• EDUC 605: Introduction to Strengths-Based School Counseling
• EDUC 607: Promoting Career Development
• EDUC 610: Group Counseling Procedures
• EDUC 611: Practicum in School Counseling
• EDUC 705: Internship in School Counseling
• EDUC 844: Advanced Seminar and Supervised Internship in Educational Administration

Honors & Awards

• 2009, Robert O. Stripling Award for Excellence in Standards, Drs. Akos, Bruce, Daniels, Davis, Gressard, Lipford-Sanders (Standards Revision Committee), Association for Counselor Education and Supervision
• 2009, Selected Fellow, Academic Leadership Program, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 2004, Counselor Educator of the Year, American School Counselor Association
• 2003, Counselor Educator of the Year, North Carolina School Counselor Association

Funded Research

• 2004-2010, CareerStart: A School and Career Engagement Strategy for Lifting Children from Poverty, United States Department of Justice, $250,000 Dr. Dennis K. Orthner (Principal Investigator), Dr. Patrick Akos (Co-Principal Investigator).
• 2008-2009, Web-Based Wellness Policy Toolkit for Obesity Prevention in Middle Schools, Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR), National Institutes for Health, $133,130 ($53,833 for UNC as a subcontract), Dr. Alice Ammerman (Principal Investigator), Dr. Patrick Akos (Co-Principal Investigator).
• 2006-2007, School Nutrition Standards Policy Implementation: Economic Impact and the Role of Key Stakeholders, R. J. Reynolds Foundation, $100,000, United States Department of Agriculture, $115,000, Dr. Alice Ammerman (Principal Investigator), Dr. Patrick Akos (Investigator), et al.

Selected Professional Affiliations

• North Carolina School Counselor Association
• American School Counselor Association
• Association of Counselor Education and Supervision
• National Career Development Association
• American Counseling Association
• American Educational Research Association
• National Middle School Association

Public Service

• 2008, Selected program reviewer, NCATE/National Middle School Association Program Review Board, review board for middle level teacher preparation programs utilizing the NMSA/NCATE-Approved Teacher Preparation Standards.
• 2007-2010, Project SUCCESS (Schools, Universities, Communities: Counseling for Educational SuccesS), Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act, U.S. Department of Education, $1,115,933, Eric Sparks (Project Director) and Wake County Public School System, Dr. Patrick Akos (Transition Training Coordinator), et al. 
• 2007-2008, Strategic Planning Committee, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, NC, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education representative on district strategic planning team.
• 2003-2005, Conexion, Latino Bilingual Tutoring Program, APPLES Service Learning Course, Selected middle schools in Durham, Chapel Hill, Orange, and Chatham counties (NC), Service Coordinator and Co-Instructor.

Selected Publications

Orthner, D., Akos, P., Rose, R., Jones-Sanpei, H., Mercado, M., & Woolley, M. (in press). CareerStart: A middle school student engagement and academic achievement program. Children and Schools.

Akos, P., Charles, P., Orthner, D., Cooley, V. (in press). Teacher perspectives on career relevant curriculum in middle school. Research in Middle Level Education.

Hirschi, A., Niles, S., & Akos, P. (in press). Engagement in adolescent career preparation: social support, personality and the development of choice decidedness and congruence. Journal of Adolescence.

Sparks, E., Johnson, J., & Akos, P. (2010). Using data to target dropout prevention efforts. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 46-49.

Akos, P., Schuldt, H., & Walendin, M. (2009). School counselor assignment in secondary schools. Professional School Counseling, 13(1), 23-29.

Sink, C., Akos, P., Turnbull, R., & Mvududu, N. (2008). An investigation of comprehensive school counseling programs and academic achievement in Washington state middle schools. Professional School Counseling, 12(1), 43-53.Update Profile