03/30/2026
Meet our chair-elect Clarence! Clarence K. Bumpas is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), and Ph.D. student in Counselor Education and Supervision at Old Dominion University. As the newly elected Chair-Elect of the Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) chapter at ODU, Clarence brings a bold and intentional commitment to advocacy, equity, and transformation in counseling spaces. A first-generation Black male scholar-practitioner, Clarence’s leadership is deeply rooted in Critical Race Theory, liberation psychology, and the unapologetic amplification of voices from the global majority. Clarence’s research interrogates the structural barriers impacting BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ scholars in counselor education, with a focus on transforming the recruitment, mentorship, and retention of marginalized doctoral students at predominantly white institutions. His scholarship includes a co-authored publication on the intersectional experiences of Black individuals with disabilities (2025, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development), a phenomenological study on Community Cultural Wealth among BIPOC doctoral students, and multiple works under review focused on culturally sustaining mental health frameworks and LGBTQIA+ justice.
