Associate Professor Retires After 34 Years at UF

James H. Pitts, associate professor, Counselor Education, is retiring at the end of December after 34 years at the University of Florida.

Pitts came to the University in the fall of 1971 as an assistant professor in University College, a now-defunct college at the University where freshmen and sophomores were located before they went to their upper division colleges. In 1979, he joined the College of Education Department of Counselor Education, where he has taught graduate classes in consultation, educational mediation, and professional identity and ethics.

Pitts has been active in professional counseling organizations, serving as site visitor, team member and team chair for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). He also is a member of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the Southern Association for College Student Affairs and the American Counseling Association.

His research has focused on mediation, school counseling and student affairs in higher education. More recently, Pitts has conducted workshops on dealing with difficult people through conflict resolution and mediation.

Pitts says he will miss the relationships with his students and colleagues when he retires. “I plan to continue to conduct conflict resolution and mediation workshops, travel and spend some time that is not structured by a schedule,” he says.

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Writer

Anwen “Wendy” Norman, anwendy@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274