Rehabilitation counseling mainstay honored with outstanding faculty award

Acquired brain injuries can happen to anyone, at any time. One instant of misfortune and your life can change forever, and in hard-to-fathom ways.

It’s a scary reality, but one that adds passion and immediacy to the work of Charles Degeneffe, professor in the San Diego State University Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education (ARPE). 

“There's no preparation for it,” he said. “You have a car accident, a stroke, a gunshot wound. Any of these things happen, and you're immediately thrust into this new type of role. It’s gratifying to try to understand and unpack the issues and create better support approaches for individuals and families.”

Degeneffe has done so with distinction. After more than two decades in ARPE, he is now on the verge of receiving one of the university's highest faculty honors. 

On Aug. 20, at SDSU’s All-University Convocation, Degeneffe will receive the College of Education's 2026 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty Contributions (see videos of past COE winners).
 
“This experience has allowed me to reflect on my time here, what my career has meant and the impact I’ve had.” Degeneffe said. “To know I was nominated for this award by my fellow rehabilitation counseling professors brings up a lot of emotions. It means a lot to me that they see me as being worthy of this kind of recognition.” 

Making an impact

Degeneffe came to SDSU in 2005. He had actually applied three years prior but didn’t get the job — a fact he recounts with a smile. 

He quickly proved himself on his second try, bolstering the national reputation of ARPE’s rehabilitation counseling program, which prepares practitioners to empower disabled individuals to make informed choices, find rewarding careers and live independently as members of the community. Along the way, he attained the rank of full professor and served as department chair from 2021-2025.

Degeneffe also relished the chance to take on big-impact projects through his affiliation with the Interwork Institute. Currently, he is leading a California Department of Rehabilitation-funded needs assessment on traumatic brain injury services and the needs of individuals with brain injuries, their caregivers and the professionals who work with them. Many RCP alumni and current students have been hired onto the project.

In addition to his faculty role, Degeneffe has served as president of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education and served for many years on the board of the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation.

“I love my work because I'm able to use my background in brain injury, my research background and my knowledge of issues happening in the field,” Degeneffe said. “I feel like in other places, I may not have had this kind of opportunity. The capacity to make an impact continually happens here.”

The power of mentorship

Growing up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Degeneffe developed a passion for working with the disability community while volunteering at a summer camp for adults with muscular dystrophy. Still, it took a while to connect that to a career. He was actually briefly a business major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Degeneffe eventually switched to social work. He went on to earn an MSSW from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and serve people with developmental disabilities and their families as a service coordinator in Janesville, Wisconsin. But he found himself drawn back to academia.

“I felt that, in an academic role, I could have a bigger impact on some of the people that I had worked with,” Degeneffe said. “I was able to observe a lot of the issues that they had dealt with on a daily basis. I just thought there were some better ways we could support them.”

Degeneffe earned a Ph.D. in rehabilitation psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison — the preeminent institution in the field — before starting his faculty career at California State University, Fresno.

When he thinks back on those early years, Degeneffe feels fortunate to have been guided by strong mentors. In his MSSW program, he was heavily influenced by the late Senior Lecturer Donald J. Anderson, whom he remembers for challenging him with big questions.

What does it mean to work with people with disabilities? 

How do you do so with respect?

What does quality of life mean? 

In his doctoral program, Degeneffe was mentored by Professor Ruth Lynch, an expert in traumatic brain injuries. And at SDSU, he flourished under the guidance of foundational ARPE faculty members Fred McFarlane, Bobbie Atkins, Ron Jacobs and Caren Sax.

With their impact in mind, Degeneffe has fully embraced his own role as a mentor.

“We have a lot of students who come in doubting who they are and what they think they can do,” he said. “Mentoring and teaching is such a privilege because you get to see their growth and development over time.”

Looking ahead

Now that he’s no longer in the chair role, Degeneffe is excited to teach more classes in the rehabilitation counseling program and further his connection with students. 

He also has more time to explore his passion projects. Inspired by the many Navy and Marine Corps veterans who have come through the RCP program, Degeneffe has published on caregivers of veterans with polytrauma, including traumatic brain injury from blast injuries. Just this month, he was elected to Fellow status in Division 19 of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Military Psychology.

“I feel like as a professor at SDSU, we should take an interest in these populations in the veteran community,” he said. “With my scholarly focus on family caregiving for persons with acquired brain injury, I want to utilize that to better support the veteran community.”

As an expert in traumatic brain injuries and a former high school football player himself, Degeneffe is also interested in exploring the impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on football players as well as the ethical quandaries of being a fan of the sport. He recently authored an article in Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin with two recent RCP graduates, Kimberly Ann Magat and Austin Constein, advocating that children under the age of 12 years old not be allowed to play tackle football in California.

“We have some very interesting discussions about these issues with our students,” he said. “I want to continue to shed light on that.”

And he’ll have plenty of time to do so. After 21 years of service, Degeneffe is energized about what his future at SDSU holds.

“When I eventually get to the point of retiring — which is not on the horizon anytime soon — I’ll probably continue to teach after that,” he said. “I don't think I'm going anywhere. That’s kind of how we do things here in ARPE.”