The Virtual Counseling Center: Its Niche, Resources, and Ongoing Research and Development Activity

Thomas Friedman’s best sellers have raised awareness of our nation’s need to remain competitive in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. However, advances in these fields cannot occur without the proper cultivation of human potential. The usual costs of career assessment and planning systems preclude their scalability to non-wealthy populations and their services are inevitably not integrated with supportive counseling interventions. In contrast, the Virtual Counseling Center (VCC) is freely available to everyone and contains a comprehensive array of resources including career exploration tests scored online with results linked to massive occupation and education databases; programs for stimulating interest and persistence in STEM studies and careers; academic and life skill programs; and resources for counseling research and practice. The VCC has received considerable support from the National Science Foundation; this article describes its niche, resources, and ongoing research and development activity.