Licensed professional counselor, educational leadership specialist join Mississippi College faculty

Annese B. Hutchins and Jay Levy bring insight and perspective to the Mississippi College faculty.

The clinical director and practice administrator for Serenity Counselling and Wellness in Brandon and the English Department chair and ELA instructor for the Rankin County School District have each joined the Mississippi College faculty.

Annese B. Hutchins, a seasoned professional counselor who has owned her practice for nine years, enhances the Department of Counseling as an assistant professor of counseling, while Jay Levy, an MC alum who has previous experience as an adjunct faculty member for his alma mater, bolsters the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership as an assistant professor of TEL.

Kayla Acklin, chair and assistant professor of the Department of Counseling, said Hutchins will teach counseling skill and technique courses and will supervise fieldwork students across the master’s-level specialty tracks.

“Dr. Hutchins is an experienced clinician with years of practice in the field,” Acklin said. “She has a strong work ethic and is very attentive to details. She collaborates well with others and as we say in the South, she’s ‘good people.’

“I’m grateful that she is joining us full-time as her experience will be an asset to the department and our students.”

A graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Hutchins obtained her M.Ed. in community counseling from the University of Louisiana at Monroe before entering the private practice of Monroe therapist Mitchell Young and joining the staff of the YWCA of Northeast Louisiana as a therapist.

Hutchins gained valuable experience serving various stints with Family Interventions of Bastrop, Louisiana; the Louisiana Tech University Psychological Services Clinic; the Louisiana Tech University Student Counseling Center; the Domestic Abuse Prevention Program of Ruston, Louisiana; the Psychological Services Clinic of Ruston; the Winn Correctional Center in Winfield, Louisiana; Behavioral Health Solutions of Monroe, Louisiana; First Baptist Church in Ruston; and Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield.

While serving as a private practice licensed professional counselor at Precise Research Centers/Clinical Neuroscience Specialists in Flowood, Hutchins concurrently obtained her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Louisiana Tech University. She established Serenity Counseling and Wellness, a group mental health counseling clinic, in May 2015.

The author or coauthor of more than 20 professional presentations or papers, Hutchins is an active member of the American Counseling Association and the Mississippi Counseling Association.

Jennifer Stafford, department chair and professor of Teacher Education and Leadership, called Levy a “talented educator” who has a “unique perspective of supporting the needs of our future leaders in education.”

“He is always going the extra mile for his students,” Stafford said. “He began working as an adjunct this past spring and summer and is off to a tremendous start this fall.

“We are so pleased to have him supporting our aspiring educational leaders as the coordinator of the Masters in Educational Leadership while also working with all of our students in literacy and reading.”

After receiving his B.A. in English magna cum laude as a Barksdale Honors College graduate, Levy obtained his M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction: teacher leadership from Belhaven University and his Ed.S. and Ph.D. in educational leadership from Mississippi College.

Levy has served in a number of roles in academia, including as a mentor/teacher in the Rankin County School District; SATP and MAAP EOC item reviewer for the Mississippi Department of Education; assistant professor of teacher education at Jackson State University; assistant professor of education at Alcorn State University; professor of educational leadership/dissertation chair at Belhaven University; literacy curriculum director for the Mississippi Achievement School District/Yazoo City Schools; district instructional coach for the Leake County School District; and English Department chair/ELA instructor for the Rankin County School District.

The author of eight professional articles, Levy received the Ole Miss Practitioner of Distinction Award/Hall of Fame and was named the Rankin County School District Teacher of the Year, the Pisgah High School Teacher of the Year, and the Rankin County School District’s New Teacher of the Year.