Historical Note
The Counseling and Testing Bureau was established at Oregon State
College in 1946 to provide guidance services to World War II veterans;
services were expanded to all Oregon State students in 1948. The
Counseling and Testing Center was overseen by the School of Education and
the Psychology Department until 1962 when it became a unit of the Office
of the Dean of Students. During the 1990s, it became University Counseling
and Psychological Services; in 2006, the name was changed to Counseling
and Psychological Services (CAPS).
The University Exploratory Studies Program was established in 1973 as a
special counseling and advising service for freshmen and sophomores, which
was coordinated by the Director of the Counseling Center. The Center also
administered aid and assistance for handicapped students beginning in
1975. Study skills and tutoring programs were conducted by the Center
until 1975.
As of the late 1980s, the primary role of the Counseling and Testing
Center was to provide services to Oregon State University students who
needed assistance in formulating and implementing their educational and
career plans, in increasing their self-understanding and self-acceptance,
and in developing skills for establishing and maintaining effective
personal and social relationships. The Center provided individual and
group counseling; administered interest, personality, achievement, and
aptitude tests; and served as a resource for OSU faculty and staff.
In 2009, Counseling and Psychological Services provides a variety of
services to help students understand themselves better, create and
maintain satisfying relationships, improve their academic performance, and
make healthy and satisfying career and life choices.
The Center for Research on Student Life and Development was established
by the Office of the Dean of Students in 1969 under the direction of
Morris LeMay, who had joined the Counseling Center staff in 1964. LeMay
became the director of the Counseling and Testing Center in 1971. He
retired from Oregon State University in 1994.
Content Description
The Counseling and Psychological Services Records consist of reports,
announcements, and research publications that document the programs and
activities of the office as well as information about Oregon State
University students. The bulk of the collection consists of the
Descriptive Research Bulletin.
Annual reports for 1987/1988 and 1989/1990 provide information on the
number of students served and the various programs and activities of the
Counseling and Testing Center. Academic Resources Lists for 1999 and 2000
were compiled by staff of University Counseling and Psychological Services
to provide a coordinated description of all resources available to help
OSU students with academic challenges. The collection includes several
announcements from Counseling and Psychological Services in 2007 regarding
how to respond to distressed students in light of the shootings at
Virginia Tech University in April 2007, including a survey assessing
awareness of campus resources.
Research reports of the Counseling and Student Personnel Research Team
of the Counseling Center issued in 1965-1966 address various topics of
academic assessment and achievement, a survey of the non-counseling
function of college counseling centers, patterns of college
characteristics obtained from OSU students, and a descriptive and
comparative study of foreign undergraduate students at Oregon State.
The
Descriptive Research Bulletin consists of
periodic reports of applied research projects done by the Center for
Research on Student Life and Development and the Counseling and Testing
Center from 1969 to 1988 with the aim of generating a body of knowledge
about Oregon State University students. The reports pertain to academic
performance, retention, graduation rates, transfer students from Oregon
community colleges, family income levels, student attitudes toward alcohol
and drug use, international students, services for military veterans,
student housing, and other issues documenting students' academic
performance and student life. Many of the academic performance studies
report on the preparation of incoming freshman in mathematics and
chemistry. Of special interest are reports of several studies of the
cross-cultural contact between domestic and international students and a
1979 report on handicapped students at Oregon State University. Many of
the reports are authored by Morris LeMay, Roger Penn, or Maryann K.
Phillips. A list of all the bulletins is available
online (text/html) .