Adler School of Professional Psychology

Welcome
Welcome to the website for the Adler School of Professional Psychology. Here, you’ll find information about our academic programs, talented faculty, and social justice initiatives, as well as gain access to services and resources. You’ll also find ways to support our work.
The Adler School is founded on an important idea: our health resides in our community life and connections. This notion, which Alfred Adler called gemeinschaftsgefuhl, or social interest, was revolutionary when he proposed it in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and it remains so today. Our ground-breaking and far-reaching curricula, our commitment to community engagement, and even the design of our new website all spring from this guiding idea.
Our world faces extraordinary challenges. Much of the conflict and disease that threatens our communities is rooted in an inability to see others as people like ourselves, worthy of respect and opportunity. At the Adler School, we educate socially responsible practitioners to lead the way in healing these divisions within and beyond Chicago and Vancouver. Socially responsible practitioners are prepared to meet the needs of a complex and changing world.
We work with students who are courageous enough to want to change the world. To prepare them for the challenges they will face, we offer demanding curricula and hands-on experiences. This blend of theory, science, and practice results in graduates who have the knowledge, skills, and values to be effective personal and social change agents in the pursuit of justice.
Our faculty are practitioners who bring a range of experiences and perspectives to the classroom. They regularly rethink and improve our pedagogy, and they build new academic programs to meet emerging social needs. For example, in September 2011, our Chicago campus began offering two new tracks within the Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology program: a Military Clinical Psychology Track and a Child & Adolescent Psychology Track. The Chicago campus has also been approved to launch a Master of Arts in Criminology program in fall 2012 – the Adler School’s first 100% online program. In Vancouver, the School now offers a Master of Arts in Community Psychology to prepare leaders in the government and community agency sectors.
Outside my office is a quotation from Alfred Adler that reads: “The school must not regard itself as an end in itself and must keep in mind that the individual must be trained for society and not the school.” This quote focuses my attention on our responsibility to our Adlerian legacy, to our students, and to our need to innovate and grow the Adler School in service to the world.
After careful planning, hard work, and incredible growth, we are poised to make the coming years a historic and transformational era for the Adler School. In our recently published strategic plan, we identify the achievements we will secure by 2015. I look forward to collaborating with our extended community—students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, partners, and supporters—as we continue on a path of success and excellence.
Please enjoy the information, ideas, and images on this site. I hope this visit is the first of many you will make to the Adler School.
Raymond E. Crossman, Ph.D.
President