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The NOSCA Team
NOSCA, the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy, shares a passionate commitment to, and belief in the value of school counseling to help every student graduate from high school with the educational preparation and social capital necessary for success in college and life.
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Patricia J. Martin
Assistant Vice President
Patricia J. Martin is a nationally recognized leader in school counseling reform to help practicing school counselors become an integral part of the primary mission for schools.
Patricia J. Martin is a nationally recognized leader in the reform of school counseling and efforts to design training opportunities to help practicing school counselors become an integral part of the primary mission for schools. She has more than 30 years of experience as a public school educator, having worked as a teacher, school counselor, supervisor of counselors, high school principal, chief educational administrator and assistant superintendent of schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Martin has an extensive and productive history of involvement in national and state efforts working on issues related to large urban school districts, leadership, school counseling and academic equity for students whose school systems have not served them well in the past. She has developed and managed many institutional programs and system policies that directly impact the education and career options for these students.
From 1996 to 2001, Martin served as a senior program manager at the Education Trust Inc., a not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C., working to improve the academic achievement for all K-12 students, especially low-income and minority students. At the Trust, Martin provided the leadership for The National Initiative for Transforming School Counseling — a multiyear program funded by the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, which established national models of redesigned counselor education preservice programs focused on advocacy for students. She has provided leadership nationally in the development and implementation of numerous initiatives designed to promote access, equity, and excellence for all students.
Prior to taking on this leadership role in NOSCA, Martin served as the assistant vice president for the Middle States Regional Office at the College Board from 2001-03. This region encompasses Washington, D.C., Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In this position, Martin worked with K-16 educators, state educational leaders, superintendents of schools, college admission and financial aid administrators, and communities and organizations with the expressed purpose of implementing the College Board mission — connecting young people to college success and opportunity.
Presently at NOSCA, Martin leads the College Board's efforts to serve as a national advocate for school counselors, charged with creating a national prominence for counselors in education reform. She collaborates, coordinates and develops ongoing initiatives with national, state and local organizations to strengthen the school counselor’s role in advancing the academic agenda for all students.
Martin has served as a national consultant on educational issues for state departments of education, national educational organizations, the College Board, The National Equity 2000 Initiative, school districts, superintendents of schools, higher education institutions, principals, teachers, parents and community leaders. She is a prolific presenter and motivational speaker at national, state and local forums.
Martin received her B.A. in mathematics from University of Texas, Austin and a master's degree in school counseling from Our Lady of the Lake College, Texas.
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Jennifer A. Dunn
Director
Jennifer A. Dunn focuses on how national and state initiatives impact school counseling practice and translates to their role and responsibilities.
Dunn’s expertise is in creating a college-going culture that is systemic and sustainable despite the challenges within a large urban school system. Her use of nontraditional and innovative practices has given her students educational success despite the tremendous societal and institutional barriers that have thwarted the underserved population’s future endeavors for years.
Presently, Dunn provides professional development and creates tools that support counselors' day-to-day responsibilities, such as creating data-driven equitable college-going practices; encouraging college preparedness for elementary, middle and high school students; promoting academic rigor; and structuring programs for increased parent involvement.
Dunn started her career as a social studies educator in a large comprehensive high school. She taught college preparatory world history, United States history, and AP® Psychology and U.S. History. During her teaching career, she received the Teacher of the Year Achievement Award and was in charge of the culture and climate component of the school improvement team. She has always encouraged academic rigor within the classroom, but also ensured that support structures were in place to promote student achievement.
In 2000, Dunn became a professional school counselor in a large, urban school system. During her tenure, she had the opportunity to start a small high school. She served as the only school counselor for four years and had a 95 percent graduation rate and an 88 percent college acceptance rate in a school system that usually graduated approximately 40 to 60 percent of its students.
Dunn has helped students and their families through community organizing strategies and experiential project-based learning activities. She believes that students become an active part of their learning by constructively challenging the structures in which they lean in order to create a more self-aware lifelong learner.
She is past president of the Maryland School Counselor Association that focuses on advocating for the school counseling profession through state-wide professional development as well as federal and state initiatives that encourage best practices for increasing student academic achievement. Currently, she is an active board member, and developed and chairs the research committee for the organization.
Dunn received her B.S. in history education from Hampton University in Virginia and her master’s degree in school counseling from The Ohio State University Transforming School Counseling Program, received an Education Leadership Certificate from George Washington University and, studied abroad at the University of Swaziland, Africa.
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Dominique J. Jones
Assistant Director
As the assistant director of NOSCA, Dominique J. Jones provides expertise in project management, organizing and institutionalizing team processes to increase capacity and efficiency of operations.
Jones is recognized for her efficiency, outstanding organizational skills and her ability to multitask. She is a big-picture thinker who understands how daily operations shape results and goals.
Jones manages all of NOSCA’s projects, events and publications. While fulfilling this role, she serves as organizer, quality control agent, budget manager and meeting planner for NOSCA’s conferences, including the annual national conference, Destination Equity: Charting Bright Futures for All Students.
She brings to the NOSCA team a very scientific and results-oriented outlook about conducting business. The characteristics of her work behavior match her formal educational training. She earned her MBA from Trinity University in Washington, D.C. and her B.S. in biology from Marymount University in Virginia. She has also studied abroad, interning at Northwick Park Hospital, in London.
Prior to joining the NOSCA team, Jones served as program associate for the College Board’s Upward Bound Program where she supported the director in activities geared to help students in grades 9-12 prepare for college matriculation and success after high school. The students were first- generation college goers from low-income families. She has also worked in the Office of the Inspector General at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va.
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Vivian V. Lee
Senior Director
Vivian V. Lee is currently the senior director of counselor advocacy at NOSCA, focusing on equity and systemic change from a school district, state and national perspective.
Presently, Lee’s work centers on training school counselors to become culturally responsive practitioners who can engage in the systemic change necessary to meet the needs of all student populations. Lee works with counselors, district leaders, and state departments of education, professional organizations and counselor educators to advance equity-focused counseling practice.
Lee’s work promotes alignment of school counseling practice with district, state and national goals for increased rigor and college and career readiness. Her K-12 through training focused on the use of data for equity, cultural competence, strategic planning and systemic change, and college and career readiness counseling.
Lee is a co-director of the NOSCA-CSCOR Fellows Program, a new national initiative designed to build a community of young scholars by supporting doctoral-level counseling students who are interested in pursuing dissertations in the area of college readiness counseling. Since 2004, she has served as adjunct professor at University of Maryland, College Park.
She is a former teacher, secondary school counselor, director of guidance and counseling and full-time counselor educator at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va. and the University of Scranton, Pa. Lee is the past president of the Maryland Association for Counseling and Development, served as membership chair for the Pennsylvania Counseling Association, trainer for The Education Trust National Initiative for Transforming School Counseling and has authored and coauthored articles and book chapters on developing school counseling programs, conflict resolution and violence, and group counseling. Lee worked in public education for 24 years before joining the College Board in 2004. She received her master's and doctoral degrees in counseling from the University of Virginia.
Lee supported a collaborative library and school building project in Ghana, West Africa at the Tema Royal Preparatory School. The library, commissioned for use in 2005, is open to members of Community 7, which is served by the school. This project began as an outgrowth of her involvement in a Fulbright-Hays Scholars Group Project Abroad to Ghana, West Africa in 2001. She is a recipient of the O’Hana Award in 2008 from the Counselors for Social Justice.