Directors
Kara Lasater
Kara Lasater is an associate professor of Educational Leadership in the University of Arkansas Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She holds master’s and specialist degrees in Counseling, a certificate in School Counseling and a doctorate in Educational Leadership. She has counseling experience in both non-profit and public education and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Kansas. She is also a certified Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) instructor. As a faculty member in Educational Leadership, Dr. Lasater’s research focuses on a variety of issues related to wellness in schools (e.g., parental substance use, family-school-community relationships) with particular emphasis on compassion-centered approaches to promoting wellness in schools. She has written multiple journal articles and book chapters on compassionate school leadership, schools as systems of support for families with substance use disorder, and relationship development between families and schools. She is also the lead editor of the volume Compassionate Leadership for School Improvement and Renewal.
Erin Kern Popejoy
Erin Kern Popejoy is an associate professor of Counselor Education and Supervision in the University of Arkansas Department of Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods. She holds an M.A. in Professional Counseling and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Arkansas. She has 13 years of counseling experience in various settings, including private practice, residential substance use recovery, non-profit community agency and school-based systems. Her clinical work has largely focused on adult women with extensive childhood and adolescent trauma, attachment wounds and (re)parenting, and issues unique to military families. She is also a certified Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) instructor. As a faculty member in Counselor Education, Dr. Popejoy’s primary research interest has been around understanding, treating and preventing trauma within various cultural, systemic and relational contexts. She has published multiple journal articles and book chapters on intimate partner violence, sexual assault, military combat trauma, and attachment wounds and relational trauma, and she is an editorial board member for Trauma Counseling and Resilience. Since 2018, she has taught the graduate-level Theories and Foundations of Addiction course, which she has developed with a particular focus on the systemic, relational and neurobiological components of addiction and substance misuse.