Palo Alto University (previously the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology) is a not-for-profit free-standing educational institute in Palo Alto, California. It offers two undergraduate degree programs (BS in Psychology and Social Action, BS in Business Psychology) and four graduate programs - a PhD in clinical psychology, a PsyD in clinical psychology as part of a consortium with Stanford University, an MS in Psychology through distance learning, and an MS in Clinical Psychology (in conjunction with the Aigle Foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina). Palo Alto University subscribes to the Practitioner-Scientist training model, a variation of the Boulder Scientist-practitioner model, that emphasizes clinical practice along with scientific training.
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The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology was founded in 1975 and has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), since 1988. PGSP is not affiliated with the similarly named Pacifica Graduate Institute, located in Carpenteria, California.
In August, 2009, PGSP officially reincorporated and changed its name to Palo Alto University.
The undergraduate programs at Palo Alto University are offered in partnership with the Foothill-De Anza Community College District located in the Silicon Valley, one of the most dynamic economic areas in the country. They are innovative Bachelor's degree completion programs created to facilitate the process for community college students wanting to transfer to a Bachelor's program and for individuals who already have a degree and wish to re-specialize in psychology or business psychology in preparation for a new career or further study. The undergraduate programs are being hosted at the Foothill and De Anza Colleges, making Palo Alto University the first community college-private college partnership in California.
The PGSP Ph.D. program has been accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) since 1988.
The PGSP PsyD program, in conjunction with Stanford University's School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and operating as the PGSP–Stanford Psy.D. Consortium Program, was accredited by the American Psychological Association in 2006.
Student from both the PGSP Ph.D. and PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. programs receive initial clinical practica training at the Kurt and Barbara Gronowski Psychology Clinic. The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University hosts and helps fund the Gronowski Clinic. The clinic is a community-based psychology training clinic and treatment center dedicated to providing high quality, evidence-based, clinical services to adults, children, and families in the bay area community. The mental health clinic is directed by Dr. Robert Reiser and provides low fee services on a sliding scale for a number of clients.
Although PAU is a small graduate community, it has a history of attracting notable clinical psychologist to its faculty, including: