Biography
Grace Mims began her tenure as interim dean of the College of Education in July 2019, following the retirement of Dean Sheryl Feinstein.
Mims has been a counselor educator and supervisor for 26 years. She joined UNK in 2008 and was named chair of the Department of Counseling and School Psychology two years later. As department chair, she oversaw four graduate programs with international, national and state accreditations and a graduate certificate program.
Mims received the 2011 UNK Student Affairs Partnership Award for securing a $350,000 U.S. Department of Justice federal grant in partnership with UNK Student Health and Counseling and the UNK Women’s Center. That grant was renewed for $900,000, which established a coordinated university/community response for students who are victims of violence and led to the creation of the UNK/Buffalo County Sexual Assault Response Team.
Prior to joining UNK, Mims taught for 15 years as a professor at the University of South Dakota (USD) and held positions at Ball State University, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Western Illinois University and the University of Central Missouri.
At USD, Mims conducted violence prevention training for K-12 students and established a 12-year, university-school partnership with the Sioux Falls School District via a service-learning project for group counseling graduate students to conduct diversity and inclusion training for 16,500 high school students and 1,500 teachers, school counselors and administrators.
She was awarded the North Central Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors (NCACES) Outstanding Diversity Award in 2000 and received the prestigious Pratt-Heins Award for Teaching in 2016. In fall 2018, she received the national Outstanding Teaching Award from the Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES).
A licensed independent professional counselor who holds six state and national credentials, Mims has counseled couples and families for more than 20 years.
In 2018-19 she served as president of UNK Faculty Senate and as a member of the UNK Assessment Committee, UNK Equity, Access and Diversity Committee and University of Nebraska Diversity Officer Collaborative. Mims is engaged in state leadership with the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska Advisory Council, and is vice president of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Region 3 Advisory Council.
The Jefferson City, Missouri, native earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Central Missouri, master’s in student affairs and community counseling from Western Illinois University and Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from Southern Illinois University.
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