mkopala@gc.cuny.edu
212 817-8303;
Currently on leave to the
CUNY Graduate Center, Educational Psychology, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York Room 3204

Mary Kopala received the M.S. Ed. in Education, High School Counseling from the Pennsylvania State University in 1980.  She worked as a career counselor at Temple University and then as a counselor in Special Programs at Drexel University.  She also served as the acting director of Upward Bound at Drexel University from 1981-1983.  In 1983 she returned to school fulltime and completed the Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University in 1987.  After completing her doctoral internship at the University of Delaware, Dr. Kopala was appointed as Assistant Professor and Counseling Psychologist at the Georgia State University Counseling Center. In 1988, she was appointed Assistant Professor at Fordham University at Lincoln Center in the Division of Psychological and Educational Services.

She is currently Professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, in the School of Education, Graduate Programs in Counseling, and is the Executive Officer, Educational Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.  A Pennsylvania licensed psychologist and a National Board Certified Counselor, Dr. Kopala has taught graduate students in counseling and psychology for twenty years.  She has also worked as a clinician in private practice, where her client load consisted primarily of individuals who confronted health issues.

Teaching

Dr. Kopala has taught numerous courses in the Counseling program at Hunter College including Group Counseling, Life Span Development, Research Methods, Theories of Counseling; Supervision and Administration, Multicultural Counseling, Culminating Project,  Counseling and Interviewing Skills, Counseling Internship.  Currently, she teaches History of Educational Psychology and Social Psychology in School Psychology, and has taught Counseling Techniques for School Psychologists at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Scholarly and Professional Work

She has written numerous book chapters and articles, and has presented at national and regional conferences.  She was co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Qualitative Research Methods and Teaching for APA, Division 17 and co-edited a book entitled Using Qualitative Methods in Psychology (Sage, 1999) with Lisa Suzuki,, co-authored with Merle Keitel a book entitled Counseling Women with Breast Cancer (Sage, 2000), and coedited with Merle Keitel, The Handbook of Counseling Women (Sage, 2003).  Her most recent work focuses on parenting issues and skills.  Throughout her career Dr. Kopala has been devoted to addressing multicultural issues particularly for women and people of color.