Adler University

Adler University is a nonprofit higher education institution enrolling more than 1,400 students in master's and doctoral programs for social change through three campuses -- downtown Chicago, Illinois, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and Online.

Formerly known as The Adler School of Professional Psychology, the institution's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to officially change its name to Adler University. Trustees believe that the update, which went into effect at the start of 2015, more accurately reflects the breadth and depth of the school's institutional, student and faculty work for advancing social justice.

Adler University offers dozens of master's and doctoral programs through its three campuses: 13 in Chicago, nine in Vancouver, and seven online. Degree programs include areas such as counseling psychology, art therapy, public policy, nonprofit management, emergency management leadership, criminology, and rehabilitation. The current president, Raymond E. Crossman, Ph.D., is the fifth in the university's history. He was appointed in 2003, and has since been focused on reinvigorating the university through a strategic vision that has led to new academic programs and significant growth.

Adler University faculty members are practitioners, scholars, activists, and mentors who bring a range of experiences and perspectives on social justice and expertise to their classrooms. They regularly rethink and improve the university's pedagogy as it continues to build new academic programs to meet emerging social needs. Those include a first-of-its-kind Doctor of Couple and Family Therapy program and an online Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management offering. The school's new Master in Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy in Vancouver is British Columbia's only such program, preparing counsellors to guide individuals and communities to greater well-being through art as social action.

Adler Toronto and the Adler Graduate School in Minneapolis, Minnesota are not affiliated administratively with Adler University in Chicago, Illinois and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Video Adler University

History

Adler University is named for Alfred Adler (1870-1937), a physician, psychotherapist, and founder of Adlerian psychology, which is sometimes called individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist, because his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population health.

Among Adler's advocates and followers was Adler University founder Rudolf Dreikurs (1897-1972), a psychiatrist who immigrated to Chicago in 1937 after Adler's death. Dreikurs lived and worked in Chicago's Hull House, and he was instrumental in the child guidance movement in the U.S.

In 1952, Dreikurs founded the Institute of Adlerian Psychology that, in 1954, changed its name to the Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago, and in 1991 became known as the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and in 2015 as Adler University. Early instructors and founders of the Institute were also Bernard Shulman, Harold Mosak, Bina Rosenberg, and Robert Powers.

Dreikurs, Shulman, Mosak, Rosenberg, and Powers educated thousands of practitioners, primary educators, and parents with coursework and programs about common sense, effective, and optimistic ways to support health and community life.

In 1963, the Institute was chartered as a not-for-profit Illinois corporation and approved as a post-secondary educational provider. A year later, the Institute created a group therapy program for those incarcerated at Cook County Jail, a program that was a precursor to the school's later focus on the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated. In 1972, the Institute established its on-campus Dreikurs Psychological Services Center, a community mental health center and training site for students, which was the precursor to today's Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), directed by Dr. Dan Barnes. In 1973, the Illinois Office of Education granted the Institute the authority to award the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. The Institute received full accreditation of master's level programs and awarded its first M.A. degrees in 1978. It received doctoral level accreditation in 1987, and awarded its first Psy.D. degrees in 1990. The Psy.D. program was accredited by the American Psychological Association in 1998.

Maps Adler University

Academics

Master and doctoral programs are offered at both the Chicago and Vancouver campuses. In fall 2013, the Vancouver campus began offering a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology--the first traditional Psy.D. program in Canada.

Adler University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the American Psychological Association.

All of Adler University's masters and doctoral programs offered at the Vancouver campus are offered under the written consent of the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education having undergone a quality assessment process and been found to meet the criteria established by the Ministry.

Areas of study in Chicago include:

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)
Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision
Ph.D. in Couple and Family Therapy
Master of Arts in Couple and Family Therapy
Master of Arts in Counseling: Specialization in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Master of Arts in Counseling: Specialization in Forensic Psychology
Master of Arts in Counseling: Specialization in Rehabilitation Counseling
Master of Arts in Counseling: Specialization in Sport and Health Psychology
Master of Arts in Counseling: Art Therapy
Master of Public Administration: Criminal Justice Concentration
Master of Public Administration: Sustainable Communities Concentration
Master of Public Policy: Community Health Concentration
Master Public Policy: Human Rights Advocacy Concentration

Areas of study and Vancouver include:

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)
Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology
Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology: School and Youth Concentration
Master of Counselling Psychology
Master of Counselling Psychology: School and Youth Concentration
Master of Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy
Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology
Master of Public Policy and Administration: Immigration Policy and Practice
Master of Public Policy and Administration: Social Change Leadership

Areas of study online include:

Master of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Master of Arts in Emergency Management Leadership
Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Master of Arts in Media and Communications
Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management
Master of Arts in Psychology: Specialization in Military Psychology
Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Campuses

In addition to its main campus in downtown Chicago, which is located at 17 N. Dearborn Street. Adler University also maintains a campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located at 1090 West Georgia Street, Suite 1200.

Adler University is the oldest independent school of psychology in North America and is a full member of NCSPP, the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology. Adler University strives to attract applicants to its graduate programs who are interested in the interface between psychology and social justice, rather than those who are merely interested in the private practice of counseling and clinical psychology.

Community Partnerships

Annually, Adler University students provide over 650,000 hours of community service. Adler University partners with more than 700 agencies to advance community health. Adler Community Health Services (ACHS) provides psychological services to under-served populations through its clinical training programs.

ACHS training programs include the Adler Community Mental Health Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology as well as psychotherapy and diagnostic assessment externships, also known as clinical practica. The pre-doctoral internship at ACHS is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and is a member of the Association of Psychology Post-doctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC).

A distinctive feature of Adler's programs, the Community Service Practicum (CSP) is a requirement for all first-year students at the School. The CSP is unique non-clinical experience, meant to expose future practitioners to concepts of social justice and social change, and to instill in them the ethos and the skill set necessary to engage in socially responsible practice.

Adler University

Thursday, November 2, 2017