Biographical sketch for Dr. Mark Pope

Mark Pope, Ed.D., NCC, MCC, NCCC, RPCC, MAC, ACS has written extensively on careers, specifically on the career development of ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities in the US and around the world.  He describes himself as being raised as "a poor, gay, Cherokee boy in rural southeast Missouri."  From those important beginnings, he has risen to the highest positions in profession counseling in the US, including president of the American Counseling Association, National Career Development Association, Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Counseling, Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (APA Division 44), and Professional Counseling Fund as well as editor of The Career Development Quarterly, the preeminent professional journal in career counseling and development.  He is also a committed internationalist and has written on the historical development of career counseling is the US, China, and Malaysia, and keynoted conferences in Australia, China, and the US.

Prior to moving into academia, he had his own career counseling and consulting firm in San Francisco for 15 years. Coming from such a rich culturally-diverse background himself, it was only natural that there - in the culturally-rich San Francisco Bay Area - he would develop and hone his ideas on the important role that culture plays in the lives of individuals and especially in their careers.

Dr. Pope is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy at the University of Missouri - Saint Louis.   His specialties include career counseling, addictions counseling, psychological testing, and multicultural counseling.  He has been a consultant to individuals as well as business, industry, government, and education for over 25 years.  He has received numerous awards including the Eminent Career Award, the highest and most prestigious career counseling award given in the US. He also received the NCDA Diversity Initiative Award in 2012.  The citation for this award read:  "As the first recipient of this award, you are being honored for your passion to eliminate the systemic barriers impacting and negating the career growth and development of diverse/marginalized individuals and groups. You set a high standard for those recipients who follow and we are privileged to honor you with this new award."

He has written extensively on various aspects of counseling, including the career development of ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities; violence in the schools; teaching career counseling; psychological testing; international issues in counseling, and the history of and public policy issues in career counseling. His works have appeared as books, as conference presentations, and in such journals as the Journal of Counseling & Development, The Career Development Quarterly, Journal of Vocational Behavior, American Psychologist, The Counseling Psychologist, The Family Journal, International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Journal of Career Development, Journal of Employment Counseling, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development.

More detail biographical information for Dr. Mark Pope

Educator, Consultant, and Counselor

Dr. Pope is also a National Certified Counselor, Master Career Counselor, National Certified Career Counselor, Registered Professional Career Counselor, Master Addictions Counselor, and Approved Clinical Supervisor, and he has been a Consultant to individuals as well as business, industry, government, and education for over 30 years. He was the 52nd President of the American Counseling Association (2003-2004), the 80th President of the National Career Development Association (1998-1999), first President of the Professional Counseling Fund (2004-2006), third Chair of the Association for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Issues in Counseling, and 28th President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (APA Division 44). Dr. Pope is a Fellow of the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association, National Career Development Association, Society of Counseling Psychology, Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues, and Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.

Dr. Pope has also had faculty appointments at Northwestern University, University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, John F. Kennedy University, and Golden Gate University and was a clinical supervisor in Stanford University's doctoral program in Counseling and Health Psychology.

He has written extensively on careers, specifically on the career development of ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities as well as careers in the computer and high technology industry, based on research conducted with computer companies in Northern California's Silicon Valley.

International Leader in Career Counseling

Dr. Pope is a Past President of the National Career Development Association (NCDA), which was founded in 1913 and is the grandparent of the career counseling profession internationally. He was elected to the top office in professional career counseling after serving as both the Treasurer and Secretary of NCDA. Dr. Pope served on the NCDA Board of Directors from 1992 to 2000.

He has also served as the President of the California Chapter of NCDA (California Career Development Association) and served on the CCDA Executive Board from 1987 to 1996. Dr. Pope was a founding member and also the Treasurer of the Society for Vocational Psychology which is a Section of Division 17, the Counseling Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association. He is also a life member of the American Counseling Association, Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, and the California Association for Counseling and Development.

Dr. Pope has delivered keynote addresses at CANEXUS, the national career development conference of Canada, Toronto; the International Vocational Technical Conference, Tianjin, China; the 8th Global Conference of the National Career Development Association in Portland, Oregon, USA; the Midwest Regional Conference of the American Counseling Association in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; the St. Louis Regional Schools-to-Careers Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, USA; to name but a few.

Leader in Professionalization of Career Counseling

Dr. Pope has been one of the leaders in the professionalization of career counseling. He has been the organizer of presentations on licensing and certification issues at several of the annual International Career Development Conferences/California Career Conferences and regularly wrote a column in CCDA News from 1992-95.

He also has been the Program Chair for several regional, national, and international career conferences including the 1989 and 1995 California Career Conferences (now the International Career Development Conference) both held in Sacramento, California, the 1992 California Association for Counseling and Development (CACD) Annual Convention (the 25th Anniversary of CACD) in San Francisco, and the 1998 Global Conference of the National Career Development Association in Chicago. He was also the Site Coordinator for the 1995 National Conference of the National Career Development Association held in San Francisco, the Conference Coordinator for the 1999 Global Conference of the National Career Development Association held in Portland, Oregon, USA, the Conference Organizer of the 2009 Biennial Conference of the Society for Vocational Psychology held in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, and the Local Site Coordinator for the 2009 Global Conference of the National Career Development Association held in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. He served as the Editor of The Career Development Quarterly from 2004-2008.

In 2008 he received the Eminent Career Award, the highest award in career counseling and development, awarded by the National Career Development Association during their Global Conference in Washington, DC.

Dr. Pope is a Master Career Counselor, National Certified Career Counselor, and Registered Professional Career Counselor (California). He is also a Fellow of the National Career Development Association and has been an officer of the Society for Vocational Psychology. 

Expert in Career Interest Testing

Dr. Pope is an acknowledged expert in psychological testing, especially career interest testing. From 1987 to 1989, he was the Software Editor and Coordinator of Professional and Technical Support at Consulting Psychologists Press (CPP), the world's leading independent test publisher. He was their psychological test specialist and trained the CPP staff on the over 150 tests published by CPP, including the Strong Interest Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorR, the California Psychological Inventory, the FIRO-B, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and many others. He has been a career counselor and user of psychological tests for nearly 20 years and was hired at CPP as a result of this experience. Dr. Pope's tasks at CPP also included developing the software for the MBTITM Narrative Report, MBTITM Relationship Report, Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children, Al Hammer's Coping Resources Inventory, and several other instruments.

He is a Past-President of the California Association for Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development and the author of several reviews in the Buros' Mental Measurements Yearbook, professional journal articles, and book chapters on psychological testing including a chapter considered by reviewers to be the seminal work on using psychological tests with gay, lesbian, or bisexual clients in a book published by the American Counseling Association.

His Academic Training

A native of Missouri, Dr. Pope received two degrees from the University of Missouri - Columbia. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree (A.B.) in Political Science and Sociology and then completed his Master's degree (M.Ed.) in Counseling and Personnel Services where he studied with Dr. Norm Gysbers - past-president of both the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) and 1989 recipient of the NCDA Eminent Career Award, Dr. John McGowan - past-president of Division 17: Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and Dr. Robert Callis - past-president of the American College Personnel Association. He began his doctoral studies at Northwestern University and completed his Doctorate (Ed.D.) at the University of San Francisco in Counseling Psychology.

Expert in Multicultural Career Counseling

Dr. Pope comes from a Native American background (he is an Elder of the St. Francis River Band of Cherokee) and has worked with quite diverse populations including individuals from a variety of cultures, races, ethnic groups, genders, and sexual orientations. Specifically, he has helped senior executives seeking a career change, Native Americans who are both HIV+ and alcoholic, workers who are being laid off by their employer, heroin addicts on the southside of Chicago, computerphobic business professionals, psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents, people with AIDS and their partners, people who are abusing alcohol and other substances, same sex and opposite sex couples, and disadvantaged and ethnically diverse students. Dr. Pope has founded and designed the career program for a variety of agencies, including high schools, colleges, and private counseling agencies and he has been a career testing and planning consultant for a variety of profit and intentionally nonprofit corporations.

Dr. Pope also served as the Director of Psychological Services for the American Indian AIDS Institute and the Native American AIDS Project in San Francisco.

He received American Counseling Association’s highest civil rights award in 2001 – the Kitty Cole Human Rights Award. He also was a recipient of the 1996 Human Rights Award given by the state of California's professional counseling association and the 2000 Human Rights Award given by the American Counseling Association of Missouri.

Technological Careers Specialist

Further, Dr. Pope has extensive knowledge and experience with computer systems and has worked in various computer-related management positions in business. He has been responsible for the computer system for the Bechtel Engineering Board of Directors. Further, Dr. Pope was a Software Reviewer for the 1989 publication, Counseling Software Guide and is a member of the Editorial Board of the computer/psychology journal, MicroPsych Network. He has worked with computers for over 10 years and was the founder and co-coordinator of the West Coast Counselors with Computers Conference in January, 1989, in San Francisco. He also was an adjunct faculty member in the University of San Francisco's Information Systems Management program for many years. Dr. Pope has provided consultation services to high technology firms such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computers, and Pacific Bell.

Leader in Internationalization of Career Counseling

Dr. Pope was the Founder of Career Decisions International, headquartered in San Francisco, with associates in Laguna Beach, St. Louis, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He chaired the International Network of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision and has presented at various international counseling conferences including being invited to be a discussant at the 3rd International Counseling Conference (Singapore) and a presenter at both the 5th International Counseling Conference (Hong Kong) and 6th International Counseling Conference (Beijing). He has also lectured at the University of Hong Kong and National Institute of Education in Singapore and provided consulting services to businesses and schools throughout Asia. Dr. Pope was invited to keynote the CANEXUS (the national career development conference in Canada) in Toronto, Canada (2009); the International Vocational Technical Conference in Tianjin, China; the Australian National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, Toowoomba, Australia; and was selected to be part of the USA delegation at the International Symposium on Career Development and Public Policy held in Ottawa, Canada (1999); Vancouver, Canada (2001); Sydney, Australia (2006); and Aviemore, Scotland (2007).

Dr. Pope is also the founder and editor of Global Career Resources (along with Martha Russell), the international newsletter for career counseling and organization development, and has been appointed a Fellow at the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri - Saint Louis.

Other biographical information

Pope, M. (2005). It takes a village to raise a leader: Meet Mark Pope. In R. K. Conyne & F. Bemak (Eds.), Journeys to professional excellence:  Lessons from leading counselor educators and practitioners (pp. 197-216). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Pope, M. (2005). Crashing through the "lavender ceiling" in the leadership of the counseling professions. In J. M. Croteau, J. S. Lark, M. A. Lidderdale, & Y. B. Chung (Eds.), Deconstructing heterosexism in the counseling professions: A narrative approach (pp. 121-128). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pope, M. (2006). Meet Mark Pope. In M. Pope, Professional counseling 101: Building a strong professional identity. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association