Cressia Callahan

   Secretary

Jill Forest 

jforest@spsu.edu

   Associate Director of Career Services

   M.A.

Jill joined the Career and Counseling Center staff in March 2006. She greatly enjoys working with students and helping them make career related decisions and preparing them for life after college.

A native of Ohio, Jill received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The Ohio State University. It was during this time that she realized her talent for helping others and her passion for higher education. After her relocation to the Atlanta area, she attended Argosy University where she earned her Master of Arts Degree in Counseling. As part of her graduate program she interned for nine months at Georgia Highlands College (formerly Floyd College) and was later hired there as a Career Development Specialist.

Later she relocated to the Chicago area with her husband. There she worked at Prairie State College as a Career Advisor, helping students choose their career path, organizing job fairs and teaching Psychology part-time.  A few years later, she returned the Atlanta area and to Georgia Highlands (formerly Floyd) College where she worked as a Counselor and as Interim Director of Counseling and Career Services.

When she’s not at work, she loves to read non-fiction, (especially anything historical), listening to jazz, traveling and spending time with her family.

Diana Harmon-Smith

   Secretary / Student Assistant Supervisor

Jeff Hughes

   Counselor and Outreach Coordinator

   M.Ed., Ed.S, PhD (ABD)

Jeff joined the Career and Counseling Center staff in November 2002.  His areas of responsibility include academic, career, and personal counseling, coordinating outreach programming for the Center, and working closely with the student-athletes of SPSU.  He served as President of the SPSU Athletic Association from 2004 to 2008.

Jeff spent 20 years in the corporate world in various accounting, managerial, and consulting roles with positions in the manufacturing and service industries.  For 16 of those years he was in managerial positions, responsible for the hiring and training of employees in the Accounting, Finance, and Computer departments.  During that time, Jeff spent a great deal of time training employees, recruiting on college campuses, reviewing resumes, and interviewing potential employees for the various firms he was employed with.

Jeff received his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in the areas of Accounting and Economics.  He has a Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling, as well as a Specialist degree in Guidance and Counseling from the University of West Georgia.  He is currently working on his PhD (ABD status) in Counselor Education from Ohio University with specializations in Marriage and Family Counseling and Clinical Supervision.  He is certified as a Ropes Course Facilitator.

Jamal Murray

   Counselor

   M.A., LAPC

Jamal joined the Career and Counseling Center staff in September 2006. His areas of responsibility include personal, academic, and career counseling.  In addition, he is available for outreach (via class visits and workshops). Mr. Murray thoroughly enjoys his work with students, faculty, and staff in higher education. 

A New Jersey native, Mr. Murray received a Masters of Arts in Professional Counseling from Argosy University. He holds an undergraduate degree in biology from Benedict College.

Linda Quick

   Career and Employer Relations Coordinator

   M.A., LPC, NBCC

Linda officially joined our staff in June 2007.  Linda is responsible for the coordination of Experiential Programs (internship and co-op) at SPSU.  This includes providing support and assistance to students and employers in job search, advetising jobs, campus interviews, etc.

A native of North Carolina, Linda made the move to Atlanta in 1988. She has an undergraduate degree in Human Services from Mercer University and a graduate degree in psychology with a specialty in counseling from Argosy University. She is a licensed professional counselor as well as a national board certified counselor. Her area of counseling has been primarily focused on career issues.

She has extensive Management and Human Resources experience in the corporate world. Her passion has always been learning and teaching, thus she moved into the academic world in the late nineties. She has taught a variety of psychology courses in a number of area colleges. She has also worked in the Counseling and Career Center at Georgia Highlands (formerly Floyd) College while in her graduate program.  In her spare time Linda enjoys dancing and community volunteer work. In addition, she tries to spend as much time with her family as possible.

Phyllis N. Weatherly

   Director - Career and Counseling Center

   M.Ed., LPC

Phyllis worked at Southern Polytechnic State University from 1983-1989 as a Counselor and as Coordinator of Academic Counseling Services/SCT 101.  She returned to Southern Poly in August 2005 after 16 years at Georgia Highlands College (formerly known as Floyd College).  There she established the Counseling and Career Services Department in October 1989.

A native of Georgia, Ms. Weatherly received her Master of Education degree in Community Counseling from Georgia State University.  She holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Berry College.  Ms. Weatherly is a licensed professional counselor and is actively involved in several professional associations.