Called “From Boulder to Vail to Chicago,” the initiative carries the ambitious goal of advancing the progression of psychology education from its origins of research to practice to a blend of both with an emphasis on community engagement.

The Vail Model emerged in the 1970s with the creation of the National Council on Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology, and reconfigured training into a practitioner-scholar approach with an emphasis on knowledge, skills, and attitudes focused on the practice of psychology. It represented a departure from the Boulder Model, which focused on scientistpractitioner- based training and was rooted in academic research methods first, then practice.

The school plans to continue this conversation locally first and then carry it to the larger academic community in years to come. Phase I has begun with working groups from every academic department as well as the areas of academic support and engagement and student affairs. Using a uniform discussion framework, the groups’ initial task is to probe the school’s values of education, innovation, service, and community, along with its learning goals, through a lens focused on individual assumptions, attitudes, actualities, and ambitions.

“Our starting point was an education model that was more instinctive,” said Dr. Nancy Davis, associate vice president of academic affairs, who helped train the group facilitators. “It was not documented or explicit. We think that this process of engagement and dialogue will result in an articulated shared model.”

Once working groups have completed their initial assignments, a steering committee will begin phase II—discovering alignments in values, definitions, and beliefs, and using the common language to mold a model of education to be formally recognized by TCS.

“It’s an organic exercise that will lead to a final product created by educators,” Dr. Deane Rabe, associate vice president of engagement and student affairs, said. “We’re setting out to clearly and succinctly articulate two statements: ‘this is what we do’ and ‘this is how we do it.’”

Like the school’s 2007 self-study exercise for reaccreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, the model draft will work though an extensive review stage that will reengage the working groups, along with Faculty Council, CSSA, Alumni Council, and Chicago School staff. Feedback will be incorporated into a final draft to go to the school’s cabinet and board in late spring 2009.

Yanjun Weng, whose international education company develops higher education partnerships spanning the globe, serves as the office’s Chief Representative, working to coordinate international recruitment and study-abroad opportunities, faculty and student exchanges, and the creation of joint degree and certificate programs.

“Five years from now, I would like The Chicago School to be recognized as the best name in psychology education in China,” Weng says, adding that his anticipation of success is based on the school’s innovative culture.

Collaboration with Fudan University, consistently ranked as one of Asia’s leading universities, represents The Chicago School’s first official partnership in China. Students from both institutions have already taken advantage of exchange opportunities, sharing perspectives on how psychology is practiced in their respective countries. Similar relationships are being developed with Zhejiang University and Jiangxi Normal.

Most recently, six students from The Chicago School’s Business Psy.D. program completed a two-week education and cultural immersion experience in Shanghai, where they explored organizational psychology from an international perspective. A highlight of their trip was a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where they gave a presentation to employees on business process re-engineering and discussed ways to use business psychology to increase efficiency at the exchange.

According to Weng, such collaborations hold enormous potential for improving the professional practice of psychology in China. Because the Ministry of Labor oversees all professional training programs for psychologists and counselors, Yanjun says, there is no reliable means of accrediting programs or licensing counselors. He adds that he hopes that increased collaboration between the East and the West will address this problem.

“We will use a lot of creativity to customize our programs to address cultural differences and to meet the need for psychologists in China,” Weng says.

The school’s international efforts are not limited to China, or even to Asia. Initiatives are also underway to develop other global educational opportunities for students and faculty. Summer 2008 saw Chicago School groups travel to the Czech Republic, where Forensic Psychology students attended a week-long Summer School of Crime, Law, and Psychology in Prague, and to Germany, where Clinical Psy.D. students attended the European Summer Academy in Nuremberg. That trip was supported by a grant The Chicago School received from the German Academic Exchange Program.

CGI became part of The Chicago School early in the fall semester, when Presidents Michael Horowitz and Marvin Koven signed a formal affiliation, merging their two institutions. The result is a more robust West Coast presence for TCS as CGI campuses in Irvine and Westwood, Calif., join the recently opened Los Angeles Campus in providing educational opportunities for graduate psychology students. At the start of this fall, CGI enrollment stood at more than 350 students in six degree programs and 14 certificates.

“The intent of this partnership is to unite the strengths of both organizations,” said TCS President Michael Horowitz in his announcement to students, faculty, and staff. “As a result of the TCS-CGI affiliation, we can now stake claim to being the first and largest independent nonprofit school devoted exclusively to graduate psychology and related behavioral sciences education in the world.”

In addition to its locations and experience with offering training for the Marriage and Family Therapy licensure, CGI also brings to TCS one of California’s largest and most successful counseling centers. The CGI Counseling Center provides psychotherapy and counseling services that are affordable and accessible. In turn, The Chicago School brings to CGI a growing national and international reputation; additional resources in the areas of community engagement and student services; experience with regional and programmatic accreditation; and program diversity. Plans to integrate the institutions originated when The Chicago School Board of Trustees initiated efforts to expand TCS to new geographies. At the same time, Dr. Marvin Koven, began thinking about strategies to ensure the future of CGI. Dr. Koven will remain active at the Irvine and Westwood campuses as chancellor and professor.

Drs. Horowitz and Koven agree that the potential is high for alumni of both organizations to be among the chief beneficiaries of the affiliation.

“Graduates will soon have access to a larger network of psychology professionals, employment opportunities, career services, and new locations and programs should you wish to continue your education,” they said in a joint letter to the CGI community.

Mantegna’s delivery of the commencement address—which mixed words of encouragement and inspiration with memories of his own years growing up in Chicago—followed the moment when he became The Chicago School’s newest honorary Doctor of Psychology. In accepting the degree, he joined other high-profile personalities— including former U.S. Senator Adlai Stevenson III, award-winning journalist Alex Kotlowitz, and Tipper Gore—who have addressed past graduating classes.

Mantegna was recognized for his work in raising awareness of autism, a disorder that affects thousands of children, including his daughter. He is active with Autism Speaks, Actors for Autism, and HOME Ownership Made Easy, an organization that offers affordable housing opportunities to individuals with disabilities.

More than 350 Chicago School graduates picked up master’s or doctoral diplomas at the annual Commencement exercises, which was held for the second consecutive year at the Civic Opera House. Some 3,000 friends and family members were on hand for the event.

The West Coast campus achieved its first-year goal with 118 incoming students in four degree programs. Students enrolled at the newly affiliated California Graduate Institute campuses in Irvine and Westwood, Calif., will become part of the official Chicago School census beginning in spring 2009.

To accommodate enrollment growth in Chicago, some 11,000 square feet of new space with another 36,000 of adjacent space for continued growth was acquired in the Merchandise Mart. It houses the new Utigard/ Transwestern Treatment and Observation Room, which now functions as the practice arm of the Forensic Psychology program.

At the heart of the conversation is Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, which relates the true story of Lia Lee and her battle with epilepsy. As this year’s Book of the Year, it has spawned discussions on—and raised questions about—the dilemma of cross-cultural communication, made particularly critical when a life is at stake. The activity supports the school’s deep-rooted focus on diversity and multiculturalism and is intended to foster intercultural understanding and engage the academic community in an ongoing conversation about psychological well-being and behavioral consequences around the globe.

The Ozzie Awards are presented annually for excellence in magazine design by Folio:, the leading publication for magazine professionals. It represents the largest competition in magazine publishing. INSIGHT, which is produced by The Chicago School Office of Marketing and Communication and designed by the Bates Creative Group in Silver Spring, Md., won the gold award in its category. Winners were announced September 22 at the Folio national show and convention in Chicago. 

In accepting its Ozzie, INSIGHT joins such publications as Bon Appetit, Fortune, Travel & Leisure, Entertainment Weekly, and Field & Stream magazines, all of which won gold or silver Ozzies in their categories. 

INSIGHT was launched in October 2007 as a semiannual publication for Chicago School alumni, friends, and professionals in the field of psychology.

Fulbright Scholar Dr. Vincent Sezibera

The Center for African Psychology opened at the D.C. Campus last year to educate the campus community and the general public about mental health issues on the African continent and the role that The Chicago School is playing to address those issues.

It took a step toward realizing that goal by hosting a lecture in April from Rwandan trauma expert Dr. Vincent Sezibera, a joint Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at The Chicago School’s Chicago Campus and Harold Washington College, who delivered the talk, “Psychological Consequences of Genocide: From Trauma to Resilience.”

A senior lecturer in the department of clinical psychology at the National University of Rwanda, he has studied post-traumatic stress disorder and child and adolescent traumatic grief, including among young survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

“I am particularly interested in how social and economic programs and networks impact resiliency post-trauma,” Dr. Sezibera said. “Thankfully, Rwandans start with a culture and social cognitions that are based in hope and optimism. Yet it is the social and economic support that not only helps the survivors of genocide to sustain hope, but actually develop internal resiliency. And that has implications for trauma survivors across the world.”

The lecture—which Dr. Sezibera also delivered at The Chicago School’s Westwood Campus in June—was an opportunity to get students interested in the international arena, said D.C. Campus President Dr. Orlando Taylor. “It’s easy to focus on things that affect you day to day, but this talk pushed us to broaden our horizons beyond D.C. and the United States.”

It also “opened the doors” to a conversation about joint academic degree or certificate programs between the National University of Rwanda and The Chicago School. “For long-term sustainability, Rwanda has to produce its own work force,” Dr. Taylor said. “It’s not realistic for their students to all come over here, so we talked about the possibility of their students beginning their work through a joint degree program, and their students might come here for a semester or a year.”

In addition to hosting the lecture, the center is about to launch a new partnership with Teach With Africa, a San Francisco-based organization that works to alleviate a teacher shortage in South Africa by sending U.S. teachers to LEAP Science and Maths Schools. LEAP Schools focus on providing academic, social, and emotional support to disadvantaged black youth, and have seen improvements in the number of graduating students who qualify for university.

Chicago School students will provide mental health and psychosocial support services to students through LEAP’s Life Orientation Program, which helps students address family issues, emotional concerns, and other issues that may distract them from school.

Patrick Kennedy accepts his honorary doctoral diploma from D.C. Campus President Orlando Taylor and Trustee Paul Dillon.

Taking center stage at The Chicago School’s 2011 Commencement Ceremony, the Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy encouraged graduates to take active roles in “a new civil rights movement” to ensure mental health care for every American citizen.

Patrick Kennedy

Evoking President Kennedy’s inaugural address 50 years ago, Kennedy challenged graduates to serve not only as psychology practitioners, but as “guardians and advocates for our country’s attitudes toward mental illness,” leading the fight against the stigma that he noted had marginalized many Americans suffering from traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological and neurological disorders. He also stressed the need for incorporating mental health care into an overall approach to health care.

“Just as we can’t have colored water fountains, we can’t have a system that is only for mental health,” he told the 3,000 degree candidates and guests who filled the Civic Opera House on June 10. “We need a (healthcare) system that has mental health as part of it. History is upon us and we must answer the call. ‘Separate but equal’ is unequal.”

TCSPP Graduates

Prior to delivering the commencement address, Kennedy—son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and a former Congressman from Rhode Island—received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, which recognized his work in passing the Mental Health Parity Law of 2008. Kennedy is also co-founder of the One Mind for Research Campaign, which has brought together prominent neuroscientists, governmental representatives, advocacy groups, and the pharmaceutical industry to improve funding for brain science research.

More than 500 doctoral, master’s, and education specialist candidates crossed the stage for The Chicago Campus’ 27th annual Commencement, accepting diplomas from President Michele Nealon-Woods, a 2001 graduate herself, and being hooded by members of their respective academic departments.

TCSPP Graduates

The Rev. Dr. Thomas N. Pelton (Psy.D. ’91) was honored by the Alumni Council with the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Presented by Dr. Susanne Francis-Thornton (Psy.D. ‘03), Council chair, the honor recognizes Dr. Pelton’s work with cancer and AIDS patients in Chicago’s Hispanic neighborhood of West Humboldt Park. (See page 26 for an alumni profile of Dr. Pelton.)

Dr. Michele Nealon-Woods, president of The Chicago School (left), listens to the discussion with Maj. Gen. William Enyart, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, and Dr. Jill Biden, second lady of the United States.

Dr. Jill Biden, second lady of the United States, visited The Chicago School’s Chicago Campus June 16, meeting with representatives of the Illinois National Guard, The Chicago School, and the community to discuss the emotional and psychological impact that military deployment has on armed services personnel and their families.

The event was part of the Joining Forces Initiative, led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Biden to mobilize all sectors of society to give service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.

Dr. Biden participated in a roundtable dialogue that included high school teachers and community partners involved in educational outreach, church pastors, community college representatives, and private foundations that support veterans’ initiatives. The group discussed services that are available to service members and veterans in Illinois, including the Home Again Project that The Chicago School—in collaboration with the Institute for Therapy Through the Arts and the National Guard—developed to provide support for children whose parents had recently returned from overseas deployment. Through Home Again, graduate psychology students worked with expressive arts therapists, using music, art and drama to help children deal with their anxieties and fears.

The project was developed and overseen by the late Dr. Ted Rubenstein, a Chicago School alumnus and member of the Clinical Psychology faculty.