INFORMATION FOR
The doctor of clinical psychology program (PsyD) at William Paterson University was granted accreditation on contingency from the American Psychological Association Commission on Accreditation (APA-CoA), effective April 15, 2018 to April 15, 2023. The APA-CoA is recognized by both the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the national accrediting authority for professional education and training in psychology.
“The APA’s accreditation process is appropriately demanding as it works to assure that all accredited degree programs are consistent with the best practices of the discipline, demonstrating that they provide strong foundations of professional clinical practice grounded in solid scientific understanding of psychology,” explains Kara Rabbitt, Dean of WP’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The “accredited on contingency” status is granted to newly established doctoral programs, which remain in this status until they graduate 100 percent of their first two cohorts, and submit outcomes to APA-CoA on students’ attainment of professional competencies, among other benchmarks. The program will be eligible for review for full accreditation as early as April 15, 2021 and no later than April 15, 2023.
“The faculty have spent countless hours in program development and design over the past few years, aiming to create courses, policies, and experiences that are rigorous, effective, and appropriate for achieving the best standards of the field. At the same time, they have carefully recruited and admitted top students,” says Warren Sandmann, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “The APA recognition is a testament to their hard work. As our students move through the program, I am confident we will receive full accreditation.”
The PsyD program has also just received approval as a doctoral program associate with the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). APPIC is a membership organization for clinical, counseling, and school psychology doctoral programs, as well as predoctoral internship and post-doctoral training programs. It provides training resources and manages a match service for predoctoral internships.
“Being a doctoral program associate is very important for our students’ clinical training,” says psychology professor and PsyD program director Michelle Cascardi, PhD. “In the fifth year of the program, PsyD students are required to complete a one-year, full-time predoctoral internship in partial fulfillment of degree requirements. Our first cohort is eligible to apply to internships via the APPIC match service starting in fall 2018, so we are very excited to be approved as a doctoral program associate.”
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To learn more about WP’s doctor in clinical psychology program, visit https://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/departments/psychology/psyd/
