Leadership and service honor goes to Carlozzi

Friday, November 11, 2016

This story appears in the 2016 issue of Education, The Oklahoma State University College of Education's official magazine


Al Carlozzi, a professor in counseling psychology, is the 2016 College of Education Leadership and Service Excellence Award winner.

“Dr. Carlozzi has admirably served OSU and the College of Education in numerous leadership roles. He has a distinguished record of community involve- ment and takes very seriously his role as a faculty representative of a land-grant institution. He continues to make a tremendous impact on the mental health community in Oklahoma and beyond,” says College of Education Dean John Romans.

“This is an acknowledgment of contributions that have made a positive difference. That’s what I like to think my career has been devoted to — making a difference in the lives of others, including students, clients and community members,” Carlozzi says. “I have long believed that the best leaders are those who are dedicated, compassionate and committed to service. Effective leadership requires that one be emotionally and socially intelligent, able to work collaboratively with others to address and solve problems, and to influence others with an aim toward making a positive difference.”

Carlozzi has modeled this kind of leadership and service throughout his 37-year career at Oklahoma State. He has served in numerous leadership positions in the College of Education, including as training director for the counseling psychology Ph.D. program for nine years, head of the School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology and interim head of the Department of Applied Behav- ioral Studies in Education. He chaired Group 5 of the Graduate Faculty and served as associate dean of the OSU Graduate College for six years, including two stints as interim dean.

In 2006, Carlozzi moved to Tulsa to become director of the Counseling Center at OSU-Tulsa. Like its Stillwater counterpart, the center offers low-cost services to people who can’t afford these services elsewhere. Over the last decade, Carlozzi has guided the center from a staff of just two interns to 11 interns who see around 10 clients, both students and members of the community, each week. The growth has come largely because of Carlozzi’s outreach efforts. By connecting with other services and organizations in the city, the center routinely receives referrals.

Carlozzi has been heavily involved in the Mental Health Association Oklahoma as a board member and served as its president in 2015.

The association has drop-in centers in Tulsa (Denver House) and Oklahoma City (Lottie House) that are gateways to housing and recovery services for the homeless, many of whom suffer from mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Working as part of the group’s education committee, Carlozzi helps organize the annual Zarrow Mental Health Symposium and other educational programs aimed at reducing the incidence of suicides and the stigma associated with mental illness.

“Other than my mentoring hundreds of developing mental health counselors and counseling psychologists in my almost 37 years as an OSU faculty member, my volunteer work with Mental Health Association Oklahoma has been the most important and meaningful work I have done in my career as a mental health professional,” he says. “This is an organization that makes a huge difference in the lives of people in this state, and I am proud to serve in a leadership capacity.”

Carlozzi is a 1996 recipient of the OSU Regents Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2013 OSU- Tulsa President’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

“OSU has provided me so many opportunities to lead and model it for others, something I’m really happy and gratified to have had the opportunity to do,” he says.