Core Faculty

Ida A. Chauvin is a member of SACES, ACA, LCA, and ASCA. She is a Licensed Professional counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, has a B.A. in business, a M.A. in Psychological Counseling from Nicholls State University, and a Ph. D. in Counselor Education from University of New Orleans. She has been an elementary and middle school counselor and a crisis counselor in high school settings. She has experience in drug court, domestic violence shelters, and private practice. This is her sixth year at Louisiana Tech University. She is currently the Program Director for the Counseling and Guidance Program at Louisiana Tech University where her other duties include the Dynamics of Domestic and Family Violence Certificate Program. Her teaching focus is Master’s level counseling students. Her research interests are primarily about children and children’s issues including sleep quality, career counseling, narrative practices, and creative techniques in counseling. She specializes in working with children and is the counseling advisor for the A. E. Phillips Laboratory School in Ruston, Louisiana.

Latoya Anderson Pierce, a Nationally Certified Counselor, received a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of New Orleans, a M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Loyola University New Orleans, and a B.A. degree in Psychology also from Loyola University New Orleans. She has served as the Cultural Competence Specialist for the Office of Behavioral Research and Education at Arkansas State University. She has also worked with the Arkansas Federation of Families and co-produced a training video for community brokers regarding diversity. Additionally, she has served as the faculty advisor for Chi Sigma Iota (Beta Rho Chapter). She has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level in higher education for the past 8 years including courses such as Abnormal Psychology, Ethics, Wellness Psychology, Social/Cultural Foundations of Counseling, Counseling Techniques, Addictions Counseling, etc. She is in her second year at Louisiana Tech University and currently serves as the parliamentarian for the University Senate. Her research interests include multicultural counseling, gender issues, and wellness.

Ernie Cowger- Ernie Cowger, a native of Conway, AR and Stamford, TX; is a Licensed Professional Counselor, LA; a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, LA; & a Licensed Psychologist, NM. He has a B.A. in Psychology from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; an M.Ed. in Counseling from Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD; 54 semester hours in theology courses from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY; and a Ph.D. in counseling and personnel services, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA. He has worked as an Assistant Director for Recruitment, Southeastern Teacher Corps Recruitment and Referral Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; a Counseling Psychologist, LIFE Drug Program, Jacksonville, FL; a Psychologist and Co-director, Tidelands Community School (a residential adolescent treatment program), Midway, GA; a supervisor of counselor interns in their counseling experience for licensure, management/leadership training, and private practice. He has experiences in drug & alcohol treatment, school counseling in an alternative school setting, stress management, leadership training, private practice, re-entry for inmates, and supervising counselor trainees. This is his thirty-seventh year at Louisiana Tech University. He coordinates and teaches in the counseling master’s program at Tech’s Barksdale Air Force Base, LA program. He has taught undergraduate and graduate psychology and counseling courses. He teaches master’s level counseling students in their clinical courses. In addition, he consults with a re-entry program for inmates. His research and presentation interests have ranged from meditation and relaxation to career counseling, clinical practices, coping with loss; death, dying, and the grievance process; counseling diversity, and creative counseling techniques.