Dr. Cindy Juntunen, an alumna of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, has been awarded the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor recognition by the University of North Dakota. The Chester Fritz Professorship is the highest academic honor given at UND and recognizes achievement in research, teaching, service and more. Juntunen, who received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology (a pre-cursor to the current Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology) in 1994 from UC Santa Barbara, is a full professor at the College of Education and Human Development and the training director for the counseling psychology doctoral program.
Dr. Juntunen has been a member of the UND faculty since 1994, where she has researched topics such as vocational psychology, rural mental health, suicide prevention, poverty and well-being, supervision and training, and body image. In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Juntunen is committed to counseling psychology training and has previously served as the Chair of the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs, a national organization that aims to advance all aspects of counseling psychology training and teaching, and as a member of the Council of Chairs of Training Councils.