Dr. Lavell Hendricks, student affairs coordinator and assistant professor of counseling at Texas A&M University-Commerce organized and created Richard Lampe Day, which was held recently.

The department of psychology, counseling, and special education along with the college of education and human services hosted the event, which focused on bullying and aggression in schools and how students, teachers, faculty, and parents can work towards preventing or stopping it.

The event featured three seminars conducted by counselors and professors who specialize in aggression, bully, and the prevention of both.

The topics covered were addressed towards college-age students but addressed information that would be beneficial to people of all ages.

One seminar, conducted by A&M-Commerce sociology professor William Thompson, focused on school bullying and the facts, figures, and fiction associated with it.

Another seminar, conducted by Dr. Felecia Shepherd, founder and CEO of Finesse Consulting in Dallas, discussed relational aggression on college campuses.

Shepherd talked about how to prevent aggression and resolve conflicts between college students. She discussed that one big issue with college students is that they don’t know how to properly react to conflict and don’t think about consequences when they react.

A third seminar, hosted by Robert Harrington, professor in the department of educational psychology at the University of Kansas, discussed school-wide bullying and taking a collaborative approach to stopping and preventing it.

Harrington discussed the myths of bullying and how people don’t always perceive small acts as bullying, but over time, small acts become habitual and that is where the small problem turns into bullying.

One large problem Harrington discussed is that schools don’t always have bullying policies in place and that leaves students, faculty, and staff at a loss on what to do about an issue and if the issue itself even falls into the guidelines that define bullying.

This event was created to honor Dr. Richard Lampe for his contributions to the profession of counseling. Lampe was a licensed counselor, served as president of the Texas Counseling Association (TCA), chair of the America Counseling Association (ACA) Southern Region, ACA member of the ACA Governing Council, and a member of the ACA Executive Committee. Lampe also chaired the state committee that develop the Texas Evaluation Model for Professional School Counselors.