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Welcome to the Clinical Psychology Department!
Degrees Offered
The Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College (TC) offers two degrees: a 95-credit Ph.D. program and a 36-credit M.A. program consisting of two tracks ("General" and “Personality and Psychopathology”). Graduates from both of these graduate-level programs seek positions in teaching, research, policy, administration, consultation, and psychotherapy. It should be noted, however, that the M.A. degree is not designed as a NY-state license-eligible program. The coordinator of the M.A. Program is Dr. Aurelie Athan. The coordinator (Director of Clinical Training) of the Ph.D. program is Dr. Lisa Miller.
Faculty Background
There are 8 core (full-time) faculty members in the Clinical Psychology program, and, in any given year, 15-18 additional adjunct faculty members. The range of research interests among the full-time faculty is considerable (see individual web pages) and virtually all have published extensively, served on editorial boards of prominent journals, and held important leadership positions in the field. A recent (2007) report in the journal Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice ranked the Teachers College Clinical Psychology program 14th in the country (of 166 clinical Ph.D. programs nationwide) based on the mean number of scholarly publications per faculty member. Based on this criterion, the TC Program was highest-ranked among the many clinical psychology programs in the New York City area.
Ph.D. Program Overview
The Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology has been continuously accredited by APA since accreditation began in 1947-1948. Notable graduates of the program (both before and after 1948) include Carl Rogers, Rollo May, Albert Ellis, Virginia Axline, Chaim Ginott, Perry London, Rollo May, M. Powell Lawton, and Donald Spence. The program is currently run in accord with a scientist-practitioner model of training. Its primary theoretical model is psychodynamic, although other modalities (e.g., CBT; IPT; family therapy) are included in the curriculum. The program provides rigorous training in both contemporary clinical science and clinical assessment and intervention. More specifically, this program is dedicated to training students to generate empirically-based knowledge in clinical psychology and to perform clinical work that is constantly informed by traditional and emerging scholarship in the field. We expect our students to learn to expertly produce, analyze, and discuss scientific material. We expect our students to become proficient at providing clinical services to a diverse population. And, most importantly, we expect our students to learn to integrate these goals. The program is not designed to meet the needs of those whose career goals are focused primarily on the practice of psychotherapy.
M.A. Program Overview
The M.A. program is appropriate both for students who have obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology and for those with a more limited background in the field. For many, these programs are of considerable help in clarifying their interest in professional psychology; for others, it is an appropriate first step toward doctoral education in the field. Thus, some graduates of these programs are now pursuing doctoral study in psychology, or degrees in other professional fields (e.g., education, law, or medicine). Others are employed as M.A. level mental health workers or research assistants in hospitals, research institutes, community organizations, business, and educational settings. Both the "General" and "Personality & Psychopathology" tracks allow students to design individualized programs, including the opportunity to work in the field or with faculty.
- Students in the General track (PsyG) requires 18 out of 36 credits to be taken solely within the CCPX department. The PsyG track provides students with the opportunity to obtain a broad exposure to the research and applied aspects of clinical psychology; to create an interdisciplinary courseload of their own design (with their remaining 18 credits), or to concentrate their credits in an area of sub-specialization (see "Concentration" in Handbook).
- Students in the Personality and Psychopathology track (PsyA) requires 24 out of 36 credits to be taken solely within the CCPX department. The PsyA track offers a structured introductory graduate training in adult and child psychopathology, research methods, and comparative psychotherapies in service of preparing students for entry into clinical psychology doctoral programs.
We encourage you to utilize this website as you explore our degree programs. There is a wealth of information available about our faculty, students, and programs of study, and we have attempted to design the site so that key information can be easily located. Welcome and thank you for visiting!