Fielding Graduate University (previously Fielding Graduate Institute and The Fielding Institute) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. It offers postgraduate and doctoral studies mainly in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

, and

organizational studies Organization studies (also called organization science or organizational studies) is the academic field interested in a ''collective activity, and how it relates to organization, organizing, and management''. It is "the examination of how individua ...

, primarily through

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

programs. Fielding Graduate University was founded in 1974 by Frederic M. Hudson, Hallock Hoffman, and Renata Tesch. They designed Fielding as a graduate program for mid-career professionals who were not being served by traditional universities.

Academics

The university offers graduate programs for adult professionals seeking master's and doctoral degrees. It offers degree and certificate programs through the School of Psychology and School of Leadership Studies. The programs include online learning, individual faculty-student mentoring and assessment, and in-person events of various types in many locations throughout the year. The professions targeted include

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

, media psychology,

educational leadership Educational leadership is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, students, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with school leadership in the United States a ...

organizational leadership Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences (e.g., sociology, anthropology, psychology), in humani ...

, and

human development Human development may refer to: * Development of the human body * Developmental psychology * Human development (economics) * Human Development Index, an index used to rank countries by level of human development * Human evolution, the prehistoric ...

, within the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors. Fielding was the first university to offer a Ph.D program in media psychology. Fielding's learning model implements a student learning plan, contract-based learning, competency-based assessment, student-to-student peer feedback, project and portfolio reviews, and final thesis or dissertation. The school's website says that its "distributed learning model" combines "in-person" and "remote" participation. , its School of Leadership offers "accelerated" Ph.D. degrees that can be earned in as little as three years, and its School of Psychology offers a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology that can be earned in five or six years. The average (mean) time to complete a PhD program at Fielding is 7.5 years. The university is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). Its APA accreditation was restored in 2019 after being listed on probation.

Partnerships

Fielding offers a doctorate in Creative Leadership through the

University of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially be ...

(UVI), is developing a doctoral program in urban leadership and entrepreneurship with the University of District of Columbia and

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

’s Payson Center for Global Development, and established the Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership with UVI,

North Carolina A&T North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

, and the Association of American Colleges & Universities. The latter earned a $9 million

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

grant in 2018. In 2015 the university was granted

special consultative status The consultative status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Soc ...

to the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

(ECOSOC).

Notable alumni

* Evelyn Torton Beck - feminist theorist and professor at

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

Tara Brach Tara Brach (born May 17, 1953) is an American psychologist, author, and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is a guiding teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. (IMCW). Her colleagues in the Vipassanā, or ...

- psychologist and meditation expert *

Marshall Colt Marshall Colt (born October 26, 1948) is an American management consultant and combat-decorated, former captain in the United States Navy in San Diego, who was an actor in film and television from 1976 to 1995. He co-starred in the films '' Nor ...

- television actor, psychologist * K. Drorit "Dee" Gaines - neuropsychologist and radio host * Devon Jersild - psychologist and author *

Salud Carbajal Salud Ortiz Carbajal (; born November 18, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 24th congressional district since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and his district covers Santa Maria, ...

- United States Representative from California's 24th congressional district *

Janja Lalich Janja Lalich (b. 1945) is an American sociologist and writer. Lalich is best known as a foremost expert on cults and coercion, charismatic authority, power relations, ideology and social control. She is a professor emerita of sociology at the ...

- sociologist studying cults *

Gina Loudon Gina Loudon, known as Dr. Gina, is a conservative media personality. She was a member of the 2020 Donald Trump campaign's media advisory board and the co-chair of Women for Trump 2020. She is a member at Mar-a-Lago and the current face of Citiz ...

- Republican activist * Lyle Nelson - Four Time Olympian in the Biathlon, 13 time United States or North American Champion *

Marilyn Price-Mitchell Marilyn Price-Mitchell (born March 1, 1949) is an American psychologist, author, columnist, speaker, and youth development expert. She is the co-founder and serves on the Advisory Board of the Washington State Family & Community Engagement Trust ...

- psychologist and columnist * Judith Sewell Wright - American author, speaker, lifestyles expert and life coach *

Steven Hassan Steven Alan Hassan (pronounced ; born 1953) is an American author, educator and mental health counselor specializing in destructive cults (sometimes called exit counseling). He has been described by media as "one of the world's foremost experts ...

- Founder of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center, author, speaker, de-programming expert

Notable faculty

* Tiffany Field - psychologist *

Ruthellen Josselson Ruthellen Josselson is professor of clinical psychology at The Fielding Graduate University and a psychotherapist in practice. Work She was formerly a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Towson University, a visiting professor at Ha ...

- clinical psychologist *

Malcolm Knowles Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (August 24, 1913 – November 27, 1997) was an American adult educator, famous for the adoption of the theory of andragogy—initially a term coined by the German teacher Alexander Kapp. Knowles is credited with being a ...

- adult education scholar *

Jeremy J. Shapiro Jeremy J. Shapiro (born 1940), is an American academic, a professor emeritus at Fielding Graduate University who works in the area of critical theory, critical social theory with emphasis on the social and cultural effects of information technolo ...

- psychologist and social theorist * Four Arrows - Education, Leadership, and Psychology scholar

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 34, 26, 3.68, N, 119, 42, 50.19, W, type:edu_region:US-CA, display=title Fielding Graduate University Universities and colleges in Santa Barbara County, California Buildings and structures in Santa Barbara, California Educational institutions established in 1974 1974 establishments in California Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges