Nicholas Andrew Cummings (July 25, 1924 – June 8, 2020) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and author.

Education

Cummings first attended the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

, receiving a bachelor's degree in psychology, before moving to

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...

for his master's and

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...

for a doctorate in

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 ...

Professional career

Cummings was Chief of Mental Health with the

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser P ...

Health Maintenance Organization In the United States, a health maintenance organization (HMO) is a medical insurance group that provides health services for a fixed annual fee. It is an organization that provides or arranges managed care for health insurance, self-funded healt ...

(1959–1979) and founding president of the

California School of Professional Psychology The California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) was founded in 1969 by the California Psychological Association. It is part of the for-profit Alliant International University where each campus's Clinical Psychology Psy.D. and Ph.D. prog ...

(1970). He became instrumental in the development of the Psy.D. training program for clinical psychologists when he launched the National Foundation of Professional Schools of Psychology, an alternative to the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

for accrediting university doctoral programs in clinical psychology. In 1979, Cummings was elected president of the

. In 1994, he co-founded with his wife the Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that routine healthcare includes doctoral psychotherapy. In the 2010s, they donated $5 million to the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

(Ohio), which renamed itself the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology as a result. Cummings and his daughter Janet L. Cummings founded the Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies in 2014.

Select bibliography

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Personal life

Cummings was born in

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area lo ...

. At the time of his death, Cummings resided in Reno, Nevada with his wife, Dorothy Mills Cummings. They have two children and two grandchildren.

References

1924 births 2020 deaths Academics from California Adelphi University alumni American psychotherapists Claremont Graduate University alumni People from Salinas, California Presidents of the American Psychological Association University of California, Berkeley alumni {{US-psychologist-stub