Mitchell receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Sharon Mitchell, senior director of student wellness and director of counseling services, is the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) in recognition of her national contribution to campus mental health.

AUCCCD is the largest organization of campus mental health leaders in the world.

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors Mitchell, a past president of AUCCCD, for “exemplary leadership in the field of university counseling centers at the highest national levels.”

Mitchell joined the UB professional staff in 2003 as director of counseling services. She has served as senior director for wellness since 2018, overseeing Health Promotion and Student Health, as well as Counseling Services.

Prior to UB, she worked as a psychologist at Boston University and as a psychologist and assistant director of the Center for Counseling and Student Development at the University of Delaware.

Mitchell also has taken an active professional role in her field, serving as president of the Delaware State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the SUNY Counseling Center Directors. After 10 years as a member of the board of directors for the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, she served as the group’s president from 2017-20 — a year longer than the typical term as president.

An American Psychological Association fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology, she is a recipient of the 2020 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service and the Director of the Year award from the American College Counseling Association in 2020.

She also has received AUCCCD’s Professional Scholarship Award and the Thomas M. Magoon Excellence in Counseling Award from the American College Personnel Association’s Commission for Counseling and Psychological Services.

Mitchell earned a BA in psychology from Carleton College and an MA and PhD in counseling psychology from The Ohio State University.