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Dan Li, Ph.D., N.C.C., L.S.C.-N.C. (K-12)
Health Promotion Sciences

Dan Li, Ph.D., N.C.C., L.S.C.-N.C.

Associate Professor

Hudson College of Public Health
801 Northeast 13th Street, Room 445
Post Office Box 26901
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104

(405) 271-8001

Dan-Li@ou.edu

Dan Li, Ph.D., National Certified Counselor, Licensed School Counselor (NC), is an Associate Professor of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Campus and an ICAST Faculty Fellow (2024-2026). She is an interdisciplinary mental health promotion scholar and counselor educator whose work focuses on strengthening the people and systems that support youth well-being.

Dr. Li’s research has evolved from examining the interpersonal processes of counselor preparation and clinical supervision to addressing mental health within schools and broader public health systems. Her early work used quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods—including Markov chain analyses of actual supervisory interactions—to investigate counselor competence, professional identity development, and clinical training. This foundation now informs her research on prevention-focused school counseling, social and emotional learning, school mental health interventions, school connectedness, adverse childhood experiences, bullying, and absenteeism. Across these areas, she asks a consistent question: What works, for whom, and under what conditions to improve young people’s mental health and well-being?

Dr. Li’s emerging research extends this agenda through responsible applications of digital technology and artificial intelligence. She leads an Association for Counselor Education and Supervision–funded randomized controlled trial evaluating AI-simulated clients in counselor training, investigates the dynamic relationships between social media use and youth mental health, and collaborates with computer scientists on generative AI applications in mental health. Her contributions to a U.S. Department of Education counselor-workforce training grant and an interdisciplinary children’s environmental health center further connect counselor preparation, school partnerships, and population health.

Together, Dr. Li’s scholarship progresses from understanding counseling interactions, to preparing an effective mental health workforce, to developing scalable approaches to youth mental health promotion.

Education:

  • Ph.D., Counselor Education and Supervision (Major), Applied Statistics (Minor), University of Iowa, 2018
  • M.A., Professional School Counseling, Appalachian State University, 2014
  • M.A., Linguistics, Hunan University of Technology, 2012
  • B.A., English, Nanjing University of Information, Science, & Technology, 2009

Appointments:

  • Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion Sciences, 2024-present 
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling and Higher Education, University of North Texas, 2019-2024
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, State University of New York at New Paltz, 2018-2019

Clinical/Research Interests:

  • School Mental Health and Youth Well-Being
  • Mental-Health Workforce Development
  • Counselor Training and Clinical Supervision
  • AI-Supported and Technology-Enabled Training
  • Implementation and Evaluation of School-Based Interventions
  • Quantitative, Mixed-Methods, and Process Research

Select Publications:

  1. Li, D., Singh, S., Jeldi, N., Chang, S., Zhu, M., Dailey, K., Karabukayeva, A., & Cai, C. (2026). What works to keep students in school? A meta-analysis of interventions to reduce school absenteeism. Behavioral Sciences, 16(5), Article 697. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16050697 
  2. Li, D., Ray, D. C., & Zou, X. (2026). Doctoral counseling students’ quantitative research self-efficacy development: A convergent mixed-methods case study. Education Sciences, 16(5), Article 703. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci16050703 
  3. Su, Y.-W., Li, D., & Doty, J. (2026). Moderated mediation analysis of school connectedness, adverse childhood experiences, and bullying: Developmental implications for constructing resilient spaces. Journal of Counseling & Development, 104(2), 198–213. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.70019 
  4. Liu, Y., Li, D., & Shen, F. (2026). International counseling students’ social support and personal and professional identities: A mixed methods investigation. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 48(1), Article 15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-026-09640-8 
  5. Lemberger-Truelove, M. E., Li, D., Kim, H., Hill, D. D., Dickson, R., & Kang, Z. (2026). School mental health interventions for adolescents: A meta-analysis of effectiveness and relevant moderators. Adolescents, 6(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents6010006  
  6. Um, B., Li, D., & Niles, J. (2025). Personal and program factors in counselors-in-training’s professional identity development. Counselor Education and Supervision, 64(3), 300–313. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12345 
  7. Um, B., & Li, D. (2025). Patterns of professional identity in school counselors: A latent profile analysis. Journal of Counseling & Development, 103(2), 138–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12545  
  8. Lemberger-Truelove, M. E., Li, D., Kim, H., Wills, L. A., Thompson, K., & Lee, Y.-Y. (2025). Meta-analysis of social and emotional learning interventions delivered by school counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 103(1), 39–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12537  
  9. Kim, H., Molina, C. E., Watkinson, J. S., Leigh-Osroosh, K. T., & Li, D. (2024). Theory-informed school counseling: Increasing efficacy through prevention-focused practice and outcome research. Journal of Counseling & Development, 102(2), 226–238. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12507  
  10. Li, D., Duys, D. K., & Vispoel, W. P. (2020). Transitional dynamics of three supervisory styles using Markov chain analysis. Journal of Counseling & Development, 98(4), 363–375. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12339