Cottingham Colloquium
The Vandermark Foundation encourages the education and training of young professionals to work in human services. In continuation of this effort, the Foundation has developed a partnership with the Psychological and Counseling Services Program of Florida State University. This began with the establishment of the Cottingham Colloquium. This annual event promotes the sense of excellence and leadership in psychological counseling as was typified by the work of Harold F. Cottingham, a pioneer in the field. The Cottingham Colloquium also awards scholarships to deserving and exceptional graduate students at Florida State University.
Co-Parenting Project
In 2015 the Vandermark Foundation and Florida State University entered into a joint venture to help families who are struggling with the effects of divorce. In an interdepartmental project, funded by the Vandermark Foundation, faculty from the Counseling Psychology Department, the School of Social Work and the Film School worked together to develop a Toolkit on Successful Co-Parenting after Divorce. This is a very exciting project that has resulted in materials and videos available for download from a website. FSU graduate students have conducted research on the effectiveness of the program and used this information to make program improvements. A Spanish version of the program was developed and made available in May 2017. We are currently working with the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, Tokyo International University and Taisho University to bring this program to Japan.