Chelsea Keel receives 2017 Outstanding Master's Student Award

Friday, April 21, 2017

Chelsea Keel a master’s student in human development and family science’s marriage and family therapy program received the 2017 College of Human Sciences Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the master’s degree level. 

Her clinical and research interest focuses on working with African American adolescents and their families. This focus resulted in Keel being named a 2016-2017 Fellow in the “Now is the Time: Minority Fellowship Program-Youth,” a highly competitive fellowship program funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Fellowship Program, provides professional training, facilitates leadership development, and offers professional guidance with the aim of deepening the skills set and knowledge base of the fellows.

Keel serves as student representative on the Oklahoma Association for Marriage and Family Therapy State Board of Directors and as president of the OKAMFT Student Board. In these leadership roles, she represents students and associate members as a voting member of the board, while leading a team of student representatives from the various MFT programs across Oklahoma to extend researched and practical knowledge in the field to fellow students and colleagues.

After earning her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, Keel hopes to promote emotional health and well-being in African American adolescents and their families by increasing awareness and access to quality mental health service.