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

Psy.D. and Ph.D. program is individually accredited by the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

. The school has trained approximately half of the licensed psychologists in California. The school has degree programs in

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

, marriage and family therapy, clinical counseling, Organizational Psychology, and

psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek ; ; and ) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, behavior, judgment and evaluation, and memory. It is distinguished from neuropsychopharmacology, which emphasizes ...

at campuses in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, Fresno,

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, and Irvine, and abroad in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Hong Kong and

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. CSPP is one of a handful of APA- accredited schools that also offered a clinical doctoral respecialization in professional psychology.

History

The California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) was founded in 1969 under the guidance of the California Psychological Association. CSPP was the first free-standing school of professional psychology in the United States. CSPP educates master's and doctoral-level psychologists in professional practice models and assures that its students and faculty are as diverse as the State of California. At its founding, CSPP worked out of borrowed or rented space with a volunteer (unpaid) faculty, but had a large number of student applicants who were attracted to the new training model. The founding president of CSPP was Nick Cummings, Ph.D., who was succeeded by John O'Neill and subsequently by Judith Albino, Ph.D. (Mary Beth Kenkel, Ph.D. and Rodney L. Lowman, Ph.D. also served as interim presidents.) During the 2000s, under Albino's tenure, CSPP was renamed Alliant University, and the four separately accredited campuses—Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco—were combined into a single WASC-accredited institution. The name was subsequently changed to Alliant International University after Alliant merged with United States International University (USIU), based in San Diego. Today, CSPP is one of several schools that comprise Alliant International University including a school of education, forensic psychology, management and leadership, and a law school. CSPP remains the largest of the schools. CSPP was first accredited by the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ( )) provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern ...

(WASC) in 1977. By the mid-1980s all of its Clinical Psychology programs were accredited by the

. Its Marriage and Family Therapy programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and its Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs ( CACREP). Each psychology doctorate degree program ( Ph.D. or Psy.D.) on each campus is accredited individually by the

Program degrees

CSPP degree programs: *

– Ph.D. and Psy.D. * Marriage and Family Therapy – MA and Ph.D. * Clinical Counseling Psychology – MA (licensure as LPCC) * Industrial-Organizational Psychology (Organization Behavior/ Development) – MA, Ph.D., Psy.D. * Clinical Psychopharmacology – Post-doctoral MS *

Social Work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

- MSW * Doctoral Respecialization in Professional Psychology

Accreditation

* Alliant International University is accredited by the

(WASC) *

Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs are individually accredited by the

at every campus. * Marriage and Family Therapy programs is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

Awards

The Los Angeles

PsyD The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D. or D.Psych.) is a professional doctoral degree intended to prepare graduates for careers that apply scientific knowledge of psychology and deliver empirically based service to individuals, groups and organizatio ...

in Clinical Psychology program was the 2010 recipient of the Suinn Minority Achievement Program Award from the

for excellence in recruitment, retention, and graduation of ethnic minority students, and for its overall commitment to cultural diversity in all department activities.

Notable current and former professors

Current and former professors include:

Notable alumni

* Phil Barnhart, member of the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

* Judy Chu, first Chinese-American woman elected to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

* Robin Corsiglia, former Olympic swimmer, sports psychologist at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) University Park Health Center * Christine E. Dickson, American cognitive psychologist * Peggy Drexler,

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

professor and author * Lisa Firestone, author, editor of PsychAlive, and Director of Research and Education at The Glendon Association *

Missy Gold Missy Gold (born Melissa Fisher; July 14, 1970) is an American psychologist and former child actress. She is known as portraying the governor's daughter, Katie Gatling, on the sitcom ''Benson (TV series), Benson'' (1979–1986). Career Gold appe ...

, former child actress * Gordon Muir Giles, psychologist and researcher, professor at Samuel Merritt University, known for his research in

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity ranging from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) to severe traumati ...

* Debra F. Glaser, former and first female chief psychologist for the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

, first psychologist to be an ABPP Board Certified in Police and Public Safety Psychology, professor at Alliant International University * Nathan Hare, author, activist, former associate professor at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, member of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

team that argued ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'' * Robin Holmes-Sullivan, psychologist, president of Lewis & Clark College * Marc Kern, author and addiction treatment specialist * Davina Kotulski, author and LGBT advocate * Glenn S. Lipson, director of Program Forensic Psychology Department Alliant International University San Diego Campus * Kevin F. McCready, psychologist, founder, and director of the San Joaquin Psychotherapy Center and the non-profit Recovery for Emotionally Abused Children (R.E.A.Ch.) * Sandra Tong, interim Fire Chief of the San Francisco Fire Department * Rose Weahkee, director Division of Behavioral Health, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

References

External links

CSPP official website
{{authority control Alliant International University Psychology research institutes For-profit universities and colleges in the United States Private universities and colleges in California Private universities and colleges in Mexico Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California Universities and colleges in Orange County, California Universities and colleges in Sacramento County, California Universities and colleges in San Diego Universities and colleges in San Francisco Universities and colleges in Hong Kong Universities and colleges in Tokyo Educational institutions established in 1969 1969 establishments in California Psychology organizations based in the United States